The Forsaken
by Paladeus
Summary: Missing Hokage challenge by Perfect Lionheart. Naruto is kicked out of Konoha by the Council. In the process, Tsunade and others leave with him, including his new wives, where they become treasure, jutsu and summon collectors. Naru/Hina/Ino
1. The Forsaken Get Forsook

**Title**: The Forsaken

**Chapter1**: The Forsaken Get Forsook

**Ships**: Naruto/Hinata/Ino, Chouji/Yugito Nii, Shikamaru/Ayame, Lee/Tenten

**Author**: Paladeus

**Key**: "Speech", _'Thoughts'_, **"Demonic Speech"**, _**'Demonic thoughts'**_

xXxXxXx

**[Author's Notes:]** - Simply put, Perfect Lionheart is probably my favorite author. His two fics, "Chunin Exam Day" and "Partially Kissed Hero" (Naruto and Harry Potter, respectively) are easily my two favorite. My Lord has called upon us for a challenge! WE SHALL RISE! WE SHALL FIGHT! WE SHALL CONQUER! RAWR!

Also, I borrowed concepts about Hokages granting land to people from Perfect Lionheart's story, "Chunin Exam Day", as well. A minor thing, but I still saw him do it first. Or at least was the only one to make it memorable if not. Regardless, Japan never really had a democratic hierarchy, so the power to do this does NOT exceed historical evidentiary support.

**How I wanted this fic to differ** from the others who took up this story are:

-Explaining HOW the Council could overrule the Hokage when the Hokage is meant to be the ultimate authority, especially when the Council is a creation of fandom,

-Actually make that same Council appoint Jiraiya rather than have Tsunade do it herself (I don't know if it was how I read it or what, but hadn't seen others do it, it was always Tsunade who did that) and lastly ...

-Tsunade herself being the cause of Naruto's misfortune. In at least the decade of Naruto's life, she was constantly drinking, gambling, running from debt collectors, NOT training, NOT keeping her skills where they should have been and basically becoming the old bitty in a Bingo parlor that she was so scared of becoming (judging by a permanent illusion to keep her looking young.) Therefore, the situation with Ino (you'll know it when you read it) is a direct example of those skills being what they now are. She became complacent and just doesn't keep an eye out.

This will be different from my usual fics. This will progress quickly from the get-go in plot development and probably not be as in-depth/complex unless I find it suffers because of it, and I don't know how often I'll write it, since my focus is on "Reforging the Past". This story will have a high attention to fluff, simply because it will be so easy and fun.

Under **no** circumstances will Naruto become female, will not get a female sibling, a female clone or any desire to be female, nor will Hinata like women. I'm not sure what it is, but I've noticed a LOT of those who have accepted this challenge (that I've found from PL's profile and C2) have done this, and I Don't Know Why! Hinata and Ino will be sisterly, but nothing will happen between them in a romantic sense.

**Warnings**: This type of story begs for Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi bashing. Expect it. Love it. Or don't, but it's gonna happen anyway. Sakura isn't exactly going to be bashed so much as torn down to be given a fresh and new start after being built back up. I hate stupid characters, so Naruto will not be stupid, merely ignorant. All jutsu will probably be in English. This is because coming up with techniques is easy, but the translation, I've learned, leaves much to be desired. Hinata will only stutter for a short while. I don't want to ruin readability for something like that. Hinata will be a closet pervert who isn't as discrete as she thinks (read: at all). It is funny as heck to write, to be honest. I have no idea if I plan to write naughty stuff, but naughty stuff will happen, even if "off-camera", so to speak. Hinata is going to turn frisky relatively soon. Openly frisky, that is.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, any intentional or unintentional crossovers and this disclaimer is maintained throughout this story. By reading, you agree that you are either of the legal age to view mature materials, or that you are not and just don't plan on telling anyone.

**Recommended Story of the Chapter:** "Hokage on the Run" by Blood Brandy (Naruto/Harem: Hinata, hints at Ino, Anko, Hana and possibly others)

/s/5026622/1/Hokage_On_The_Run

xXxXxXx

Tsunade stood at the doorway and watched as Hyuuga Hinata calmly stroked Naruto's face, her touch gentle and soft over his eyebrows as she moved his hair out of his eyes. It was the kind of sickeningly sweet moment that made her long for her dead lover's touch, though she was perfectly willing to give it a few more years. She had to make sure Naruto advanced and learned before she could keel over.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune said quietly from beside her mentor. "The ANBU are watching all of the Council to make sure they don't attempt anything early."

"Thank you, Shizune."

The two watched the children for a few minutes longer as Hinata sat on Naruto's bed and did nothing more than look at him, taking in his features before Tsunade grabbed Shizune and shunshin'd to her office.

"Hinata-san is going to be so devastated when she learns they banished Naruto-kun," Shizune said quietly, taking a cup of warm sake from the older woman as they both wearily sat at the desk. "From what I understand, she's had an intense crush on him for years."

Tsunade closed her eyes and shook before suddenly yelling and throwing the cup at the wall where it shattered. "Damn it! He's only a damn kid! What the hell kind of business do they have telling me to kick out my own ninja!" She roared, falling back into her chair and shaking quietly as her rage was held inside of her.

"They gave themselves the additional power by sending you documents to sign while you were drunk," Shizune answered quietly. "You are the one who gave them the authority. You know as well as I do that they're meant to be purely advisory and that their power shouldn't move beyond civilian matters, but they used your drunken habits against you." Both women were glad that they had not yet gone beyond that point to such an extent as to call for his death, however. Some had tried, but all they could do was ask the Hokage for it. And none of them had been willing to grant such a request up to that point. And the council was worried that another opportunity such as this wouldn't come any time soon, so took as much as they knew they could get away with.

Tsunade slumped in her chair and began to cry quietly. "I know," she mourned, crying in a way she hadn't since Naruto saved her life by taking Orochimaru's sword into his belly. "It's my fault for not doing the job properly. But, the brat is the whole reason I came back!" Tsunade yelled, smacking the desk.

"The only reason I'm doing this is because the gaki said he believed in me! He made me believe in _myself_! And look at what I've done!" She broke down and began to cry harder. "I've failed him. I've failed his dream. I've failed everyone," she finally whispered, thinking about her lost lover, younger brother, Naruto and the Hokages past.

"And now he needs you again," Shizune said calmly, sipping from her sake as Tsunade looked up at her quizzically.

"Huh?" She asked, rather eloquently, she was sure.

"He needs you to help him now, Tsunade-sama. If he's going to be banished, then you may as well do what you can to help him. You know his mission files as well as I do; Sarutobi put him on a huge number of political missions, so he's got powerful friends in Wave, Spring and now Suna who would gladly take him in," Shizune answered, her voice beginning to get louder as her own anger at her mentor grew. Everything that was happening was because the woman didn't do her job properly.

"Naruto has been at the center of completely changing the course of history and the future of three different countries! He's allowed them all to become more prosperous and better places just because of who he is and you could help guide him to one of those places! He would just simply leave here and possibly wander until he found a place to call his new home and try to live. But most likely, the Council is waiting to send out hunter-nin. See what you can do to help him! Don't just sit there and be sorry for yourself until he is forced to leave! Actually help him!" Seeing her mentor flinch, Shizune realized she had gotten into the woman's face and finally sat down, not looking repentant in the least. Naruto had been a wonderful catalyst to get Tsunade to better herself and had even made her own life happier with his existence in it and had just about filled the younger brother slot in her life. And Tsunade had fallen back into her old ways long enough to ruin it all.

Tsunade opened her mouth to say something before closing it and beginning to truly think. She knew what kind of power she held as Hokage. Right after finding out the Council had begun stripping her sole execution of it, she checked and found that they had very slowly been granting themselves the ability to control different portions of the ninja force. Worse, it wasn't all of the Council, but just the idiots who held the majority, which were mostly civilians who were on a major power-trip. They had yet to actually take anything _away_ from her, though. That required far more than they had just by themselves, and they most certainly couldn't do it while she was drunk! It required direct intervention by the Daimyo or her own input and offering a defense.

And she'd be perfectly willing to show her defense with several well-placed punches, cracking skulls and breaking legs. There's no need to defend against what's dead, after all.

Well, _usually_.

And then her thoughts drifted to her own comments spoken only moments ago. She _was_ only here for the brat. Even now, she hated Konoha, more so now that they were destroying the one redeeming quality she had found since leaving over a decade earlier. This town kept trying to kill off everyone who she ever cared about.

"Shizune," Tsunade began quietly, not sure how her long time friend would take this idea. She had been willing to follow Tsunade in the past, but that was at a time when her brother had been killed in battle. While not the same, this was very much similar. Would she agree to do it again? Shizune had missed Konoha so much in the previous decade that Tsunade wasn't sure she would be willing to go through it again. "I've got an idea, but I'm not sure if you'll like it. I want to know now that, if you don't, you'll forget I ever brought it up."

Intrigued, the brunette nodded once.

"Why are we here?" Tsunade asked, deciding to ease her friend into this. "What do we have here that we truly care for? That we _wouldn't_ be willing to give up for Naruto?"

Shizune considered for a moment, her quick mind making several connections to where her shishou wanted to go with this. It was almost scary if she was right. "Sacrifice for Naruto-kun? Nothing," she confirmed, already deciding she was all for the plan.

"Why don't we go with him?" Tsunade asked quietly, never knowing who could be listening. "You said 'help him', and this is certainly the best way I know how. No hunter ninja would stand a chance with us right there beside him, training him, protecting him and keeping him safe. We can't justify ninja going out with him with Konoha on the brink of economical collapse, and we would never know who we could trust. Why don't we go? Protect him?"

"We've got five days until Saturday. What can we get from now until then?" Shizune asked, hopping on board the Naruto Train. No one had really become important to her here except for Naruto, and Tsunade had always been with her wherever she went, and they were the only two she truly cared for. She had begun a relationship with Iruka after learning he was the turning point in Naruto's life and having gotten to know him, but it hadn't worked out. Their very first date had proven that, while they could be great friends, anything more would be impossible. The man was too comfortable and set in his current life where he hoped to settle down soon while Shizune still thrived for action and adventure.

And Tsunade would be lost without her within a week. Sannin or not, the woman's skills and abilities had degraded substantially in her decade-long drunken binge.

"I've already got plenty of plans. Go bring me Hinata. She's directly involved in a few of them," Tsunade ordered, watching in pride as Shizune left without further hesitation, just as any subordinate should. The girl cared for her Naruto? Fine then! By golly, Tsunade would make sure the brat got beaned upside the head with the girl's heart if she had to! The boy deserved love and never got an ounce of it here. It was high time he got stuffed with so much mush and fluff that his great grandchildren would feel it!

The first thing Tsunade realized she had to do was keep Konoha from being able to come after them, so she quickly elevated Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata to Chuunin, which the former certainly deserved, and then cut off all duties associated with their families. While Naruto didn't officially have a family, Hinata did, and it was better to do it this way than allow the other Hyuuga the chance of coming for the girl. And besides, she could destroy Hinata's paperwork if the girl chose not to follow them.

The next thing she did was set out a request for ten complete sets of long-term gear from the ANBU Black OP's unit, half of Konoha's stored medical supplies since that was about as much as she had them obtain and store when she came back, enough food for twenty people for a year (which was thankfully, already sealed in a storage scroll as a measure in their fallout shelters, which were designed to withstand long-term sieges from enemies) from their storage holds and enough tech for a team of twenty, consisting of long-range radios, chakra surveillance equipment and other such materials, all being called out for a "rescue" mission. Who cared if they thought it was to try and rescue the Uchiha? That just meant they would fulfill it or include things she may have forgotten to add. It was more to rescue Naruto from the Council's clutches. But with a constant focus on twenty people, they would think she was taking an actual team for that purpose, just to play it safe and gain less opposition during its acquisition.

And there was nothing wrong with having spares for your spares. Especially with Naruto handling the equipment.

She then called in a Genin team to fulfill an order to buy out an outfitting store for ninja, making careful note that it was for 'Panda-Ban's', the only shinobi store that sold to Naruto without faulty equipment or bloated prices he had told her about.

Then she began to write a couple of laws. If Konoha was going to treat her family like shit, she could return the favor. But she was better. She spent most of her life being petty.

xXxXxXx

Shizune waited for several minutes for Hinata to stop kissing Naruto's unconscious lips. She had just been about to enter the room when she noticed the girl straighten quickly before suddenly grabbing Naruto's medical chart, read that he was heavily sedated and then locked lips with the drugged blond.

BOY was that unexpected!

After four minutes, and seeing Hinata's hands begin to roam from cupping his face, Shizune called out loudly, "Alright! Let me just check Naruto's status!" and then walked in, seeing the blushing girl sitting in the chair at the window and a suspicious trail of dust settling between her and the bed.

"Enjoy yourself, Hinata?" Shizune asked, unable to help herself after spotting the girl's swollen lips. Immediately feeling bad, she quickly followed it up with, "I like to sit and comfort the patients, too."

"Y-Yes! Co-comfort the pen-is, er, IS! IS Naruto-kun going to be okay?" Hinata asked, mortified. The one time, ONE TIME, she gathered the courage to kiss her love, and she couldn't stop thinking about it! It just popped into her head, '_what if a kiss like the fairy tales could wake him up_?' So, she tried, hoping for one of those happily ever after endings.

They got married in those endings.

And married people got to do the naughty.

Instead, she nearly got caught doing something she wasn't sure was illegal or not. Was it against the law to kiss an unconscious boy until you needed air? She knew it was if you knocked them unconscious first. She had had that idea twice before and looked into it. But he was _already_ unconscious this time! No tranquilizer darts, no knock-out gases and no Jyuuken to the spine. This time, it wasn't her fault!

"He will be, yes, but I'm just checking on Naruto-kun's status, and then I'm actually supposed to take you to meet Tsunade-sama."

"Um," Hinata asked, blushing and wondering if she got caught, "is this because Naruto-k-kun failed to catch Uchiha-san?" She knew it couldn't be. She wouldn't be the one Tsunade wanted to talk to. But, other than molesting her love, she couldn't think of anything else Tsunade would want with her.

Well, nothing she already _did_. They couldn't read minds, because they weren't Yamanaka, so she had nothing to worry about as to where she had planned on _putting_ them.

"In part, yes," Shizune said quietly, checking Naruto's wounds and finding that the fox was mending him up with incredible speed. The wound on his chest was the only one that wasn't almost fully healed, it seemed. The fox was getting much faster. The chakra coursing through his body even seemed to overlay over the chakra of her diagnostics jutsu and then began to do the same technique over the rest of his body as if it was _learning_.

It was a shame Shizune wasn't checking on the chakra, or that would have worried her.

Hinata visibly straightened, wondering how she could be of assistance to the Hokage. "I-I'm ready."

Shizune nodded and grasped Hinata firmly by the shoulder, shunshin'ing them to the entrance to the Hokage's office. Nodding at the two ANBU guards, Shizune opened the door, watching Tsunade quickly hide a parchment in her lap and look at the newcomers innocently. The Hokage didn't have Naruto's game face, and Shizune had seen her poker faces for years. The Sannin was up to something. Narrowing her eyes, Shizune introduced the girl, "Hyuuga Hinata is here to see you, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade smiled and quickly motioned for Hinata to sit in the chair in front of her. Without waiting, Tsunade opened Hinata's file and read out loud for the benefit of the girl as Shizune began to activate the silencing seals of the room.

"Hyuuga Hinata, age thirteen. According to this, you've got excellent chakra control, but are pretty much average in everything else, though you dabble in medical arts as self-taught. You have no ninjutsu or genjutsu knowledge aside from what the Academy teaches, even though your sensei is a Genjutsu specialist and should have taught you some in over half a year, and your weapons and taijutsu are about average as well, excluding the edge the Jyuuken provides in close combat. Sound about right?" Tsunade asked, getting an embarrassed and disappointed nod. The girl knew her family expected much better from her.

"Good. Now, I'm going to be blunt as hell, because I've had one really screwed up day and don't want to deal with taking my time trying to be delicate. Savvy?"

Confused, and looking more than a little shocked at the Hokage's pirate language, Hinata nodded, wondering how much sake the woman had that day, so far.

"Good. Now, because Naruto failed to bring back Sasuke, the Village Council is prepping to have him banished," she explained, watching as all color drained from the Hyuuga maiden's face. "Now, here's the kicker. I'm planning on joining him, along with Shizune-chan there. It's pretty public knowledge that you have a crush on Naruto, so I'm willing to help you get him and take you on as an apprentice if you come with us. So what about it? Do you want in?"

"I-ya-I-ya-" Hinata spoke unintelligibly for a few seconds before Tsunade realized she had come on a little strong and tried again.

"The only reason I came to this village was because the gaki made me believe in it; believe in _him,_" Tsunade explained quietly and warmly, showing the girl she was being honest and sincere. "Now, they want to get rid of him. Well, I'm not going to sit and take it. He means more to me than this dump. I'm willing to promote you to Chuunin so you can be taken from your team and take you on as an apprentice; you'll learn all of my techniques and then some. It means leaving your village, your family and your friends, but I can make sure we're not labeled as missing nin or traitors and will be well provided for. What do you say?"

Hinata took only a second to nod, knowing she would lose her family and team, but really, she didn't feel very close to her family. They all hated her; the branch family for being a main member and the main branch for not being the best. That happened when a handful of people had an 'obey or die' seal on the foreheads of the branch members. And she knew some of the men from the Main branch used it on the women of the branch side for their own perversions, knowing there was nothing they could do. If they knew they could get away with it, and Hyuuga babies had to come from somewhere, many of the Main branch felt the Cadet branch should be honored to be given the more 'noble' seed of the ruling branch. That was one of the reasons she wanted to abolish the Caged Bird seal.

It was also one reason she worried so much for her sister, and knew she was consigning herself to such a fate by letting Hanabi take her place as heiress of the Hyuuga clan. She would miss her team, but was willing to leave with Naruto-kun. It meant too much not to. "If it means making sure Naruto-kun is okay, I'd be happy to accept."

Tsunade smiled. "That a girl! Now, we need-" She stopped immediately as Ino, Shikamaru and Shino entered the room.

"Can I help you three?" Tsunade asked, piercing Shizune with a glare for letting them be interrupted.

"You needed an emergency team of Genin for a mission," Shikamaru explained, "and I needed something to keep my mind off of things. Ino trailed along and Shino was feeling pretty useless sitting in the hospital and offered to join me when I was told to find two people and report to you since we were in the same room."

"Oh! Right, my mission," Tsunade mumbled, looking for the paper she had written the directions out on. "There's the little bugger!" She cried out triumphantly, holding up a wad of what looked like garbage. "Take this to Panda-Ban's and tell the clerk to seal everything he's got into scrolls, one for each weapon and one for each of literally everything he's got, clothes, weapons, explosive notes and all. I even want the shelves everything comes on. Tell him to charge the Hokage's account, do you understand me?"

Bug-eyed, Ino and Shikamaru nodded as Shino looked between the Hokage, Hinata and back again, his mind calculating possibilities. "Hokage-sama, we can't seal," Ino warned, looking at the wadded up paper in surprise, still.

"That's why I told you to have the clerk do it, now be back as soon as possible." Quickly, all three Genin left. They could hear Ino questioning the mission almost immediately.

"Now that they're gone," Tsunade continued, looking at Hinata. "We're leaving on Friday, so we've got four days. I need you to think of anything you may want or need to bring. I'm taking care of shinobi equipment and medical supplies, but I want you to pack any clothes you have without the Hyuuga emblem, any mementos, copy or steal any jutsu scrolls you've got at your estate and anything you can think of to bring in that we may forget. We're taking care of food, weapons, mission gear and the majority of the jutsu you will be learning. Do you think you can do this?" Tsunade asked.

The Hokage wasn't too worried about the girl's father stopping her. He had not been one of the ones who were a part of the Council's manipulations. Granted, that could most likely be attributed to the fact that doing so would only have taken more power from him, so the majority of the Council, which were civilians, didn't call in any of the shinobi families. Tsunade would have to see about making sure they couldn't pass laws without the full Council present.

It had been something that Konoha was hoping to do that kept them from having such a horrible history as many other villages; having a civilian council was supposed to allow them the chance to bring up matters that meant something to the people and get them handled, while still being a village run by, and taking orders from, their Hokage. The entirety of the village was a purely a militarian structure, and all militaries had their leader.

The Council was made up of both civilians and heads of the ninja clans, however, to ensure that some form of decorum and stability was held up and to ensure that they didn't focus on civilians more than the ninja clans, who were much like civilians themselves while not actually _on_ any missions.

Ninja were people, too. Tools, yes, but people as well.

But the Council was headed by a few retired ninja who lived well beyond their prime in the field and hated feeling useless, deciding they didn't have enough power any longer. So, they worked with the civilians, slowly and privately, until Tsunade came along and they had the perfect patsy to allow them to slip new laws into place that granted them more power. And when Tsunade could barely see straight because of her hangover, they slipped in small and minor things, granting themselves that power, authorized by a hazy Hokage. Moving as slowly as they dared and in very small increments, they worked their way up until they could grant or take away anyone's ninja status under Konoha's authority, send out hunter-nin to find and kill any missing ninja and assign ninja to tasks of their own design that didn't take away from their duties to the village under the Hokage or circumvent the Hokage's orders, though they still couldn't go against the Hokage's own orders in any way. But she couldn't go against theirs as long as they followed their own rules.

The magic of writing such laws was all in the wording and emphasizing some things while playing down others; a game politicians have been playing for as long as there was a structured government.

The last of their abilities was to appease the civilians and make them believe they were gaining some form of control over the ninja, but in fact, it was so Danzo could recreate his militia group of ANBU, called ROOT, which were codenamed 'Ne'. They were ANBU that were next to brainwashed into being fanatically loyal to the deformed, ex-ninja, and had originally been forced to disband when Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, had taken office.

Now, he could bring them back, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. By using various civilians and training them up himself, they had no allegiances to Konoha or the Hokage, which meant their sole leader was himself, which made them exempt from the majority of their own limitations. Let the civilians have their petty issues get taken care of. Danzo had his own army, and it was growing.

Hinata nodded, thinking about Naruto's need for chakra control more than anything, but debating with herself if the Hyuuga's stolen archive of goodies could help him as well. With eyes that could see through anything, no one could keep scrolls secret except for some of the more paranoid defenders.

Even the Uchiha were prey to the Hyuuga eyes. You can't defend against what you can't see.

"I can g-gather plenty of materials, Tsunade-sama. Will we meet before Friday? And where do we meet that day?" Hinata asked, finding herself looking forward to this new experience. Not only would she be with her Naruto-kun, but she was going to be apprenticed to Tsunade!

"We'll meet every day, actually, and we're going to meet here Thursday night, now that I think about it," Tsunade said, deciding to use the cover of night two days early to get farther without being seen, just to be sure. She knew they would expect her to remain out of the way the last day, using every final moment in attempts to rebuke their decision. "We'll all go to dinner, say it's a goodbye meal, and then part ways, meet back here an hour later and then take off."

Shizune had been playing scenarios in her mind and decided to interject while the conversation paused slightly. "Hinata, you may also want to gather any and all Hyuuga-based technique scrolls you can get your hands on, possibly copy them so no one knows they're missing. You won't have the chance to learn from another Hyuuga any time soon, and we don't want your unique abilities to stagnate or be lost."

"Good idea," Tsunade mumbled, deciding that really would be a problem for everyone. Then, another concept came to mind. Namely, techniques to teach Naruto that weren't purely medical. His chakra control wouldn't be good enough to handle those techniques for some time. Also, there was the situation with the Kyuubi. Would that affect her decision?

"Hinata, there's a secret about Naruto that you need to know before you commit to joining our group," Tsunade warned, sighing. "Naruto really should be the one to tell you this, but we have neither the time to wait, or for you to change your mind later because of it. You see, when Naruto was born, he was chosen to carry a unique ... burden."

"I already k-know about the Kyuubi," Hinata whispered, catching both women in shock. "All Hyuuga who leave the estate grounds know about it. M-my father told me about it when I joined Naruto-kun's class. He warned m-me never to tell anyone because it would be considered treason because of a law that was in p-place and that I would d-die. But, he had t-to, because I would have q-questioned why there was red chakra in his c-circulatory system."

Tsunade's initial anger abated some as the rationale was explained, but she still didn't like it. "Wait, and you still like the brat?" She asked, wondering if this meant that Hyuuga Neji knew about it also. From what she had heard, the boy seemed surprised when Naruto used the power during the Chuunin Exams against him.

"N-Naruto-kun is Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered quietly, sending the older woman a slightly scathing look for doubting her. "I have watched him for a v-very long time. He is not mean or evil."

Tsunade decided there and then she was going to make sure those two ended up together. Even if she had to go to extremes to make it happen. And she planned to. It never hurt to be sure. "Great! Let's go talk to the brat. He's going to need all the friends he can get."

Tsunade would admit she was upset over the whole thing, but honestly saw this as an excellent opportunity for Naruto. He could leave the village and grow in an environment where he wasn't shunned and loathed because people knew who he was and what he carried. She was already thinking up a speech to give him about how this was more of a blessing in disguise.

She wasn't sure if he would believe it, but there was hoping. He _was_ pretty dense, after all. And she planned on working the two hard enough to get together that he wouldn't have time to feel sorry for himself.

xXxXxXx

Tsunade, Shizune and Hinata huddled around Naruto's bed while the white-eyed girl kept an eye out with her Byakugan to make sure they wouldn't be disturbed as Tsunade removed the sedatives from Naruto's body just as if it were poison, causing the boy to groan.

"Mn ... Sasuke-teme ... stop being a yaoi fanboy," he mumbled as he swiped invisible hands from his crotch, much to the older women's amusement and the younger girl's dismay. The Uchiha had tried to snag her Naruto-kun?

_'MURDER!'_ A tiny Hinata screamed inside of her own head, cute pixie nose scrunching as she scowled.

"Wake up, Naruto," Tsunade said, shaking Naruto's shoulder. The boy roused slowly, and not a bit grumpily.

"Baa-chan? Y'bring me ramen?" He mumbled, yawning.

Tsunade rolled her eyes before suddenly throwing her hands up in the air and leaning down to put her face mere inches from his own and screamed, scaring the boy badly enough to make him and the other two girls scream in fright. "Now that I've got your attention, we need to talk. But first, Hinata-chan, here, is going to tell you a secret."

Hinata's head poked out from behind Shizune where she had taken refuge when Tsunade went spooky and stared at her new shishou in abject horror. _'That wasn't part of the plan!'_

Tsunade grunted and jerked her thumb to the very confused blonde on the bed. "Either tell him or you don't join us." Tsunade saw Hinata was staring between her and Naruto, so she grabbed Hinata by the upper arm and dragged her over to the bed, red face, poking fingers and all. Hinata's eyes darted between Naruto and Tsunade several times.

Then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and Hinata passed out.

"Well, that's going to make confessing a little hard," Tsunade grumbled, picking the girl up and setting her on the bed next to Naruto.

"What's this all about, Baa-chan?" Naruto asked, looking over his body and seeing that he was nearly fully healed. His chest was tight and ached, but the hole was already closed. "And how long have I been out?"

Tsunade forgave him for the 'old' comment, but decided to answer his second question first. "So far, you've been here overnight. Kakashi brought you in after he found you at the Valley of the End."

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked in shock. It was rather surprising, really. The man had given him a fruit basket once, but other than that, he hadn't really ever done anything for Naruto. The blonde-haired youth would have honestly expected to him have gone after Sasuke and try to catch him. It was obvious they were in a huge battle and the boy would be moving slowly. "Wait, how did he even find us? I thought he was out of Konoha on missions. And how did I heal that over night? It took days the last time I had a hole in my chest."

"He was, but was on his way back and felt your chakra signatures and knew you were fighting after the gate guards explained the situation when he arrived," she told him, making a point to ignore that he admitted to having a hole in his chest before. But she made a mental note to find out how it happened and when, just in case she had a Jounin to castrate. There would be a trip to the hospital records office before leaving on the agenda.

"Oh," Naruto said simply.

"Anyway, we're here to talk about some pretty serious stuff, Naruto," Tsunade said warmly, sitting on a chair at the edge of the bed. Now that the amusement with her new pet project, currently laying next to Naruto, was aside, Tsunade took on the somber tone that was appropriate.

"Naruto, I'm about as useful with words as you are, so I'm just going to tell you straight out. I screwed up," she admitted. Her eyes began to tear up as she continued, "I didn't take the job seriously and now the Council gave themselves more power because of me and they're banishing you from Konoha."

Naruto's face paled and he suddenly felt a horrible stabbing pain in his chest that had nothing to do with his wounds. "They ... They're kicking me out? I know they always hated me, but...," he trailed off as tears began to fall from his eyes.

Tsunade enveloped him into a hug, cuddling his head to her shoulder. "I know it hurts, but Shizune, Hinata and I are coming with you. We're not letting them kick out the only reason we came back and the situation is beneficial for Hinata, as well," Tsunade said, not mentioning how it was going to help the girl. He didn't need to know about slavery, rape, seals and her crappy family life for now. She'd make sure Hinata confessed, though. That would help him a little, she was sure.

"What?" Naruto asked, looking at the older woman hopefully. He wasn't going to be alone again?

"Naruto-kun," Shizune said from the side, coming closer and touching his face tenderly, "we love you. You mean more to us, all of us, than Konoha. A village is nothing but the people who live within its boundaries. We came to care for you and came here to help you. If they're getting rid of you, then they're getting rid of us."

As horrible as Naruto felt, he couldn't help but to smile a goofy grin. It was very comforting to know that at least someone cared for him. It actually made it worth the pain he was feeling. Well, perhaps not, but it put it in an odd sort of equilibrium, making him feel somewhat detached from the experience of leaving the village he grew up in and unwillingly focusing solely on the people that cared enough to leave with him.

Then the warm body of Hinata glomped his side and stayed firmly attached like a cuddly teddy bear, making Naruto wonder why she was coming. Tsunade and Shizune he could understand, but the Hyuuga heiress? "Uh, what's Hinata-chan doing going with us? She has a family and she'd be giving that up," he finished quietly.

Tsunade frowned, looking at the happy expression on the sleepy Hyuuga. The question gave her another idea, but it would have to wait. "That is a conversation you'll need to have with her, Naruto. But, I'm going to have her tell you her secrets. I'm sure you can understand not telling someone another person's secrets?" She asked, conveniently ignoring the fact that she had just done that earlier with Hinata and ignoring Shizune's disapproving glare.

Naruto flinched, looking down at the girl resting her head in his lap. Yes, he could understand that.

"Naruto, when she wakes up, I want the two of you to spend the rest of the day talking. Neither of you are allowed to leave this room until you both tell each other your secrets. You have one, she has one. Tell her I said that she has to tell you the secret I told her to tell before she fell asleep, otherwise, she doesn't get to come with us," Tsunade ordered.

"Also, don't worry about equipment or anything. Shizune and I are taking care of everything we would need unless you want to get anything from your apartment. Understand?"

Naruto looked down at Hinata and then back up to Tsunade, his expression unreadable. "Do I have to?" He asked quietly. "I mean, what if she hates me for it?"

"I'll give you a hint, Naruto," Tsunade said with a smirk, making Naruto quirk an eyebrow. "Those eyes can see the difference between your chakra and that of the furball. She hasn't brought it up or asked questions about it, has she?"

Naruto shook his head, watching the sleeping girl and thinking about everything that phrase would mean or could have meant. What it _could_ _mean_.

Tsunade got up and moved her chair against the wall with a small smile. "We'll be going to dinner together on Thursday night and then leaving later that evening even though we don't officially have to leave until Saturday since we didn't expect you to heal well enough to move until then. You seem to have healed even faster than you normally do. But, I want to be out of here well before they get it in their heads to try anything, so you have to stay in bed and pretend to be weak if anyone shows up or they could try to do it faster."

Naruto sighed and watched the two women quietly leave. He stared at the closed door for several long moments before a sleepy and roaming hand began creeping down his chest. Then his stomach, then...

"Hinata!"

xXxXxXx

"Get you the what?" Shizune asked with wide eyes. Tsunade couldn't be thinking that! She _wouldn't_!

"I said, get me the forms to form an arranged marriage between my ninja," Tsunade repeated. It was a tactic that was needed with surprising frequency when such things had to be truly done to avoid detection from spy networks that were better than they would expect and, as Hokage, she had all powerful control of marrying any of her ninja at any time to anyone she chose, legally and just as binding as any other marriage.

And it was real and official, too. When the paperwork was filed, it truly married the ninja, even without the vows needing to be spoken.

"Tsunade-sama! You can't marry the two of them before-"

"No, no," Tsunade interrupted the voice of reason, quickly making up a plausible story. "I'm just setting it up to make sure no one _else_ can do so with Hinata or Naruto. Otherwise, the Hyuuga or the Council could initiate an arranged marriage and force us to return them. Already having one in the books, ordered by the Hokage, means no one else has that ability."

Actually, they could still try as all it would normally take was another Hokage voiding the contract other than either of the two of them, so she actually _would_ be marrying them as soon as possible, but didn't want to get into an argument for now. Especially when she would be breaking off all allegiances with Konoha, meaning it was ironclad. The Hokage couldn't break a marriage to someone who wasn't under their authority. But they couldn't marry one not under their authority either, so it was now or never.

The Hokage sat at her desk and pulled out a few bits of parchment as she continued to explain. "I'm not bothering to ask Hiashi's permission for this, and he's already commented that he's only waiting to put Hinata into the Branch family until Hanabi is of 'traditional' age or she dies. We already know the Branch members are treated badly at best. This saves her from everything we know happens to them."

Tsunade grinned ferally, causing Shizune to shudder as she handed the paperwork over. "And if those two get together, then we have the legal paperwork all finished to give them the ability to marry at any time without needing to get parental permission. We never know when we'll need them to have that ability."

"They're children!" Shizune spluttered. "What on earth could we 'need' them to be married for? At least with insertion and undercover missions, I can understand, but they'll be with us the whole time!"

Tsunade frowned as she was pulled from writing various legal measures and putting Hinata and Naruto into an arranged marriage that they could only break themselves, just to be on the safe side. "Well, being married will keep anyone else from trying the same with either of them; we know Kumo would go after Hinata being both unsealed and in a small party since we don't know where we'll be and could come across some of them, and once it comes out that Naruto is the son of the Yondaime Hokage, which I'm sure will come out soon, and that we're taking off with Naruto's inheritance, which everyone knows contains jutsu scrolls, people are going to be trying to get Naruto in hopes of some of the Minato's personal techniques. Especially Iwa. We won't be able to keep the Council from leaking that information and hoping for Iwa to finish him off rather than get their own hands dirty. And, with both being who they are, a political marriage would only be expected, even at such a young age."

Shizune scowled at her mentor. "All the more reason to train him."

Tsunade waved off Shizune's worry. "We'll head for the Daimyo's palace first, explain what's happening and what measures we're taking. That'll make sure the idiots here can't send him false information and get us in worse trouble from a higher power than the bastards in the Council."

"I didn't think they knew about Naruto's lineage," Shizune said, finally responding to what she heard rather than by her dislike of marrying Naruto off already. She was all for it happening, but would have rathered they discussed it with him first.

"They didn't until after the Kyuubi was sealed," Tsunade grunted. "They wanted to kill Naruto right after and Sarutobi had to explain everything in order to make them back down since even the ninja portion thought that was what was meant to happen. It still only worked on a few of the ninja clans, most of which trusted the Yondaime's sealing abilities, but it gave him a valid reason to tell them off and keep him alive. I had to break open the Hokage's safe since Sarutobi didn't bother leaving the combination anywhere. It had Naruto's inheritance, an autographed collection of Icha Icha, his diary of important notes and stuff like Black-OP's information and the Forbidden Scroll."

_'Best idea, EVER!'_ Tsunade thought as she realized who exactly the genius was that made the Forbidden Scroll. Originally, it was all on various scrolls throughout the Hokage's Archive, and still was, but was put together by Minato right after becoming Yondaime so it was more organized and all available from one quick source, whether for reference or so they could firebomb the original archive and have the backup handy.

That meant it technically belonged to _him_ and not Konoha.

That meant she had a justification for bequeathing it to Naruto.

Tsunade cackled as she realized she was _Hokage_! It didn't even matter if it was his by right. Because it was _hers_ by right! And there were a _lot_ of jutsu that had been stolen over the decades by Konoha, either from enemies or from clans that died out like the Uchiha.

Sarutobi knew it was too dangerous to leave that extremely vast library of jutsu that the Uchiha had stolen from their original country before being kicked out in the abandoned Uchiha district. Even with various ANBU patrols, it would have been child's play to get past them. Naruto did it all the time even before getting half way through the Academy. It was simply safer to keep it locked in their vaults until Sasuke would be able to claim it.

Well, he was a traitor, so he didn't have right to anything in Konoha at that point. He turned his back on them and everything there. And even better ...

... It was fully within a Hokage's right to grant property under their care to someone. They did it for the Uchiha and Hyuuga when starting the village, after all. Even the Forest of Death was originally going to be for a clan that decided not to accept their offer.

As acting Hokage, and with a creepy giggle, she claimed all Uchiha estates and properties as belonging to Konoha, and then gave it all to Naruto so that he could start over a new life somewhere else. So what if all he could take were things that could be moved around? With sealing scrolls, it didn't matter. All of the scrolls, the money and random items within the property could be sealed up and either sold if needed or used later. While nothing could be done for the property or what was in it for now, they were perfectly able to transfer all money and scrolls into Naruto's possession, minus a portion of the Uchiha's bank account to those others who went on the mission to retrieve him.

As Tsunade cackled in frenzied glee, Shizune read each document, just making sure everything was accurate of course, and became increasingly shocked at her mentor and friend's audacity. She was literally giving away _all_ of Konoha's jutsu and a good deal of its money to Naruto.

There wouldn't be a village in existence that would deny them entry.

xXxXxXx

"Do you see the rotations?" Naruto asked as his clone brought his hands away from the rasengan it had just helped create in Naruto's hand and disappeared while Hinata watched in fascination with her Byakugan active. The swirling, spiraling ball of chakra was beautiful and mesmerizing to look at without her clan's eyes, but with them, she saw in a whole different level. For a pair of eyes that allowed the user to see everywhere at once and for great distance, looking into the center of the spiral made her feel like its depths were endless. She knew it couldn't be, but the very center seemed to never end. It was like something was there that made the center go ... _somewhere_ ... else.

"Yes, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered, feeling as though speaking more loudly would break some magical barrier that she didn't want broken. It would remove the incredible sight from her if it did. She knew it.

When she had woken up to Naruto's terrified yelp of her name, her hand had been half way under his hospital gown and the girl had leapt away almost as quickly as Naruto had. Thankfully, the boy's nature led him to believe she was dreaming about catching something or other and had brushed it aside, even if he hadn't forgotten it, and the two began to talk with Naruto explaining Tsunade's parting message.

Knowing what was at stake, and that she had time, Hinata didn't faint again, but simply took a deep breath and then squeaked out, "I like you!"

Naruto simply smiled and said he liked her, too, completely missing the girl's meaning. Hinata had been so annoyed that she finally managed to say the words and he misunderstood that she didn't even realize she had corrected him until he asked her outright to confirm and be sure he hadn't heard wrong or misunderstood.

After she had reawakened, he admitted she was among the few he really had on his good list that he never really had a bad thing he could say about her. She needed a little more confidence, but he knew she would get that at some point. Girls were weird, after all. They couldn't be expected to be the same as him.

Now, he was trying to teach her the basics of the rasengan after discussing Jiraiya, who Naruto admitted to liking better than Kakashi since Kakashi only ever taught him tree walking and Jiraiya had taught him water walking, the rasengan and how to summon toads. And that was in only two months! Imagine what he could have done if he had been Naruto's teacher!

"Do you wanna try and make it? There are three stages, but the part I had the hardest with was chakra control, which I know you're much better at."

"Um, I don't th-think I could put that much chakra into it," she said quietly. Sure, she had that much, but putting it all into one technique? She had never tried before. The requirements for this one technique were incredible and would almost fully deplete her own reserves.

"Well," Naruto said, thinking, "why don't I give you the chakra and you can do the control? All you have to do is swirl it in a bunch of different directions at once and it works with me and my clone."

Hinata blinked. That was actually an interesting idea. And, she got to play with Naruto's ... chakra. "A-alright."

Hesitantly, she crawled into the bed beside him and cupped her hands over Naruto-kun's and watched his chakra with her Byakugan, beginning to swirl more and more chakra as he added it between their hands.

It was incredible! His chakra was warming the air and literally seemed to hum to her senses! And the power! It was easy enough to control what he gave her to work with, which she found very surprising, actually. It was an odd experience to have so much power at her fingertips that she knew she could manipulate as she willed. The red chakra seemed to caress her hands, oddly enough, but it seemed to recognize what was happening and was providing some kind of ... shell? It was hard to tell what it was doing, but moments after beginning, it seemed to take heed of what was happening and kept all of the blue chakra constrained.

Remembering what she saw before, she began to swirl the mass of raw energy between their hands and saw as the glob of chakra began to form more spherical until she had something that looked the same on the outside, but she knew it wasn't ... _complete_ ... was the word she thought she needed. "I have it acting a lot like yours, but it isn't complete," she said, unsure of what was missing or wrong. "Yours had something different in the center. Something I c-can't seem to replicate."

Naruto grinned, taking control back and letting the energy dissipate gently around them. "Yea, that was the third stage. You had exactly what I spent a week on before I figured it out. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I can try to teach you if you want."

"I'd like to know how the hell you were able to let your chakra follow Hinata's commands."

Both teens turned to see Tsunade and Shizune standing in the doorway, looking surprised. "Heya Baa-chan!" Naruto waved as Hinata blushed and got off of his bed to sit on the chair again where no one could accuse her of anything. She still wasn't sure what Shizune had seen earlier. "What do you mean? My clones control my chakra all the time when I do the rasengan."

The two older women entered the room and closed the door behind them as Tsunade took the chair on the other side of the bed from Hinata while Shizune was juggling various scrolls and reading the newest measures through to ensure everything was properly worded so as not to come back to bite them on their well-trained butts. She had only found one such error so far, but it would have been a horrible one for their plans if not caught and she was now frantically searching for others while Tsunade continued to explain.

"Chakra is a part of us, Naruto. It's controlled by both our conscious and subconscious minds. That's why someone can't control another person's chakra whenever they want to. Subconsciously, we don't ever want to lose control over that energy, meaning giving it to someone else. That's why we can't recharge our own reserves with another person's chakra, too. It has to be freely given. Your clones are basically you, so it's normal that they might, though I don't know if I've ever seen anyone try. Simply put, the spiritual part of chakra makes it have a kind of personality to act similarly to its owner's. No one wants to be controlled, and neither will their chakra."

Outside of the room, Ino stopped from entering the room with her hand on the doorknob as she heard the Hokage speak, a flower in her hand where she was hoping to wish Naruto a get well. It had spread all around town about the battles everyone had fought and Kakashi had explained much of the battle scene of the Valley of the End in public while answering some of the medics' questions, his experienced eyes taking in and reading the signs of the battle to get an idea of how everything had occurred, so people could guess at how intense that one was.

And Shino's bugs had apparently been on everyone so he could report anything needed in case they either died or needed help, and the one on Naruto had spoken about an incredible battle that had been replayed in Shino's mind from the insect's memory. What he described was awe inspiring and frightening in such a way that, if it was anyone other than Shino telling the story or anyone other than Naruto and Sasuke doing the fighting, she probably wouldn't have believed it. But the Aburame were not the type to be known for lying, and those two boys were the only ones who seemed to have such incredible histories already. And it was well known that the Aburame planted such bugs on their party members for a number of reasons. Especially in search and retrieval where they may have to find a wayward member of the team.

So, she had been there as much for verification, hoping Naruto would let her peek into his memories to watch from his perspective as much to wish him good health. He was one of them, after all.

Naruto looked at Tsunade like she was crazy and then to Hinata before going back to Tsunade. "I don't mind if I give Hinata-chan my chakra. She was only making the rotations of the rasengan. I just pushed the energy out like I do with my clones and let her move it about."

Tsunade was about to continue to argue before shaking her head, deciding it wasn't worth it and she would have plenty of time to work on it later. It wasn't that it was impossible, she knew, but that it was a matter of trust. That's why clones could do it. They simply _were_ their creators. Nothing to fear there. She was surprised because _Hinata_ was able to control his chakra. If Naruto was that blindly trusting, she would have to make sure to work it out of him. And odder than anything else, she had never worked with the Kyuubi's chakra, so that should have fought her tooth and nail for control. Naruto could do it because he's done it his entire life.

"Well, regardless, we're just coming by to make sure the two of you have talked," Tsunade said, looking at Hinata's blushing face, who nodded, and Naruto's pale one, which began looking for an escape route. She took that as a 'no'.

"You need to tell her, Naruto. If you don't, she'll stay here and the Council is most likely going to tell everyone anyway. And you know they'll put it in a bad light just for backing from the people to support their decision." He didn't, actually, but she wasn't aware of just how little Sarutobi had hidden of the attempts to have him killed in the past.

Naruto looked at Tsunade and Shizune for several long moments before gazing back at Hinata. He had enjoyed the last few hours, but knew it was going to come to an end now. And she liked him, too. Like-liked him, that is. While the idea scared him a little, he found himself also hoping to try and explore that concept, which had been severely lacking in his life.

"Er, Hinata-chan, there's something about me that only the adults know about," he began, not seeing Tsunade hold up a hand to stop Hinata from interrupting him that she already knew. Tsunade wanted Naruto to learn to tell his secret, and he couldn't do that as easily until he learned to for the first time. Especially if the first time was to someone who supported him, just to make it that much more worth while afterwards.

"When I was born, it was the night of the Kyuubi attack. And, the Yondaime didn't know how to actually _kill_ the fox, so he used his knowledge about seals to just ... make it go away. But, to do that, he needed to seal it _into_ something. Apparently, something with its own chakra can't be sealed into something without its own chakra because it will break free, so it had to be something that was alive, but it had to be something with a chakra system just as complex; a human in this case. But, if that much chakra went into someone that already had a developed chakra circulatory system, it would only shatter it, so it had to be a baby without a chakra system of its own already. The younger, the better. Since I was just born, he actually sealed it into me." Naruto looked away, not sure he could handle whatever he would see on Hinata's face.

"I'm still me, but the bastard fox is inside of my belly, behind my belly button. I've actually talked to it. He's a bastard," Naruto grumbled, thinking about the fox's desire to eat him.

Outside, Ino quietly gasped in surprise. She, like everyone else, knew how badly Naruto was treated just by being near the boy when he was out in public, but she had always thought it was his reputation as a prankster! Not because of that!

Hinata looked to Tsunade, getting a nod to let her know she could say something, and then looked back at Naruto. "I know," she said simply, watching Naruto look at her in shock. "I c-can see its chakra inside of you with my eyes. My father told me about it long ago so I wouldn't ask q-questions about it and bring it up in class because of a law that exists where anyone who t-talks about the Kyuubi openly or to anyone who doesn't know is to be charged with treason and k-killed. I've seen you grow, Naruto-kun. You aren't mean or evil. You're ...," she trailed off, blushing brightly before she admitted to more than she wanted to. "You are kind and generous, always giving of yourself. You always t-try to help and you never give up. You protect this village with everything you have, even stopping Gaara when the demon sealed within him took over. I can see all of that, and I've seen you. I know you are not demon. I c-can see you are you."

Those eyes were great for spying. Or stalking. Or peeping.

She preferred everything went under the first category, though.

Still outside, Ino slowly withdrew her hand from the knob of the door and swallowed. Hinata was right, of course. Ino tried looking back to see where Naruto had ever done something mean or evil and, aside from some iffy pranks, he was always a good guy. And, looking back at how often the teachers used to pick on him in class, which she had also always thought was for pranking, she realized how much that had to have hurt his education and how badly Naruto could have turned out. She, like many others had received information on who Subaku no Gaara was from their Jounin after getting the invasion explained to them and she realized that, if Naruto had turned out like that, there would have been no telling who may have died. Or more precisely, who could have lived.

That would require a lot of thought, Ino was sure.

Happy to have the depressing stuff out of the way, Tsunade clapped her hands together sharply, making the other three occupants jump. Poor Shizune almost dropped the papers she was checking over so diligently. "Okay! Now, I've already got everything in my possession that we're going to take except for the Uchiha's finances and the like and Hinata here should be getting her clan's techniques for our trip so she can study them."

"We're taking the teme's money?" Naruto asked with a shocked expression on his face before it broke out into a grin. "That's AWESOME!" Then he fell back laughing. "That's the best prank _ever_!" A part of Naruto knew stealing was wrong and that it wasn't truly a prank, but the other, much larger, part of him that had almost been killed by the bastard had no qualms in taking off with the loot.

Tsunade grinned evilly right back at him. "Well, technically, I took it as my right against traitors as Hokage and transferred it all to you, including his family's jutsu library and his property. Well, along with a portion of the money to the others who went on the retrieval mission as well, of course."

Naruto stopped laughing and looked at Tsunade, as if looking for verification, before he broke out into even louder laughter, Hinata trailing not far behind with dainty giggles. She did enjoy seeing Naruto happy.

Tsunade continued as if Naruto wasn't about to risk opening any wounds. "Unfortunately, we can't take the property or anything inside of it since we'll be leaving, but I'm getting everything else put into sealing scrolls so we won't have any extra weight or luggage to carry and can cover far more ground much more quickly."

"How does a sealing scroll work? I may need one for some of my stuff." Naruto said, wondering if he could take some of the things he had from his home. There wasn't much, but he had recently bought a whole lot of ramen and had a few things that he would like to keep, for sure. And, if you could seal some things, why not others?

Tsunade blinked before pulling out one of the scrolls that were always on her person with standard supplies in case she needed them like blotters, scrolls, ink and the like. "This symbol is the standard seal used for storage scrolls. It's linked to a pocket of space that isn't actually here, but linked only to that seal. So, if you have one thing, you just put it on the seal, cover it in chakra and then put the chakra on the seal and it gets sucked right up into it. It's like it gets slurped in through a straw, so to speak," Tsunade explained, making sure Naruto was following.

"So, there's like a giant pocket in the universe that only has an opening to that seal? And each seal is like that?" Naruto asked, making sure.

"Yes. But, if you want to seal a whole pile of things, then you have to surround the whole pile in chakra just like putting it all into a sack and _then_ touch that chakra to the seal. So, the more you seal at once, the more chakra you need, and the larger the risk of running out. Most people use too much, but they don't seal a lot to make it really hurt them. But, that's why not everyone is taught to do it, because it usually weakens people too much. That's why sealing items isn't taught at the Academy since students could hurt themselves."

"Is there a limit to size or how long it can be in there?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Depends on the person doing the sealing," Tsunade said with a shrug. "The only limit is to what the person can put in with their chakra and control to surround whatever they want in. Now, I've got to tell you about your family, too," she said, getting a gasp from Hinata and a startled 'WHAT!' from Naruto that drowned out Ino's curious 'Huh?'.

"Naruto, because of the Kyuubi and because of who your father was, Sarutobi thought, and I agreed at the time I learned it, that it would be best if you didn't know who your parents were until you were strong enough to defend yourself. Children have a bad habit of not being able to keep secrets, so it was certainly not safe until you were older to talk about it. I guess Sarutobi just didn't get around to telling you yet."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, feeling betrayed by the recently-deceased Sandaime.

"Naruto, your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina. She was a Jounin in Whirlpool before she came to Konoha after meeting your father. Her family was actually one of two that founded the village. And it prospered until the last Shinobi War, where Iwa wiped it out."

Naruto's face fell as Hinata and Ino, the latter still hiding outside, leaned closer to the source of the intriguing tale. That would mean he most likely didn't have any real blood family left. "What about my dad?"

Tsunade sighed, knowing this would hurt more than probably anything else he had learned that day. But, he had to know. And it was best to learn now, while they had the chance to let him calm down before they went into the wilderness. "Your father was Namikaze Minato. He was the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha."

Naruto, Hinata and Ino's eyes all widened.

"M-my own father put the Kyuubi in me?" Naruto asked. "Why?"

Tsunade sighed once again, not appreciating that Sarutobi had left her with this particular job. "Naruto, your father, like most are, was incredibly proud of his son. You were just born and he only knew of one way to help the village. But, in the process, he planned on helping you, too."

"What do you mean?" The blonde-haired boy asked.

"Minato designed the seal so that you would absorb the Kyuubi's strength and power as you aged," she confessed, deciding to explain exactly what Sarutobi's journals said. "He wanted you to have that power and to have a name as great as his, if not even better, and provided for you the best way he knew how. There was one other birth that night, but he felt it was a form of revenge on the fox to give you his power and make you the strongest human in the world. And, could you really see the Hokage asking another family to make a sacrifice like that? Your mother died during childbirth and he knew he had to sacrifice his life for the jutsu to work since no one else knew the technique, so he felt that he could leave you with the power of the Kyuubi where you could train to be great and powerful and help the people who meant something to you."

"Sarutobi wasn't sure when, exactly, but the seal was designed to eventually transfer all of the Kyuubi's power to you and make you the strongest person alive, even more than all of the known demons. Your mother had died during childbirth and he was going to sacrifice his own life to send it away, so he wanted his son to benefit where no one else could as well. And, with the number of enemies he had both within Konoha, who didn't like the way he ran things during the war, and outside, from the number of people he killed, he felt it was one of the better ways to ensure you survived. Even then, only a very small number of people knew in the beginning and it was supposed to remain secret from everyone else."

Tsunade spread her arms out imploringly, not sure what more she could tell him. "From what I understand, a member of the Council learned about you and told the others, but didn't explain all of the failsafes that the Yondaime had put in to make sure you would gain the fox's power but not controlled by it. He told them that the Yondaime put the fox into a child so it could be killed. Sarutobi had to explain the truth, but by then, it was too late. That Councilman had already allowed the information to leak out to the public, which is why you are treated so damned badly to this day. And, because he didn't do anything that was technically against the law, and because the other Councilmen thought he was blowing the whistle on the Yondaime's plans, Sarutobi would have been in serious trouble for disciplining the man for letting the information get out, since he didn't know it was supposed to be secret, or so he said. Sarutobi did all he could and told the man to disband the means in which he learned about everything, but he had already made things difficult."

Naruto was unsure about what to think. Everything sounded normal, or at least legitimate, and it made sense in a creepy, narcissistic way. "So, the Yondaime is my dad and he put the Kyuubi in me because he wanted to make me strong?" He asked in a mostly dead tone.

All the women present, even the hidden one in the hall, winced at it before Tsunade corrected him slightly. "That, but also because he knew the fox wouldn't want to die, so it would try to protect you. Your increased regeneration is likely because of that, and your stamina, too. You're constantly getting its chakra to fill your own reserves and make them larger, which is one of the biggest reasons you have such poor control over your chakra, but already have reserves that are bigger than mine by about triple. It just keeps growing. We'll be taking care of that once we hit the road and get out of this dump of a village Thursday night. The Council's banishment order on you doesn't take affect until Saturday, but I'm still worried they may try and send hunter nin, so I'm wanting to leave early like I mentioned earlier."

Naruto nodded sullenly. "If you guys don't mind, I think I'd like to get some sleep."

"Alright, but remember that we're leaving Thursday night to make sure those bastards in the Council don't try to kill you before giving you the chance to get out of here, so I need you to stay in the hospital and not leave until then. Even act like you're still wounded. Myself and Shizune are the only ones allowed to check up on you, so no one should know how quickly you're healing for now. Understand?"

Naruto nodded and the group of girls got up as Ino quickly left, having more than just a little to think about.

"We understand, Naruto-kun. R-rest and we'll make sure Ayame-san brings you plenty of ramen," Hinata said, not feeling brave enough to risk giving him a hug or anything else similar. Sure, she had molested him while he was unconscious ... and while _she_ was unconscious ... but now he knew she liked him. He didn't hate her for it, but he didn't accept her, either. At least not yet.

Naruto tried to smile, but it came out a little sickly before he rolled over and wrapped himself in the blanket.

xXxXxXx

_'Well, there's certainly nothing keeping me from believing Shino's story now,'_ Ino thought, walking away from the hospital. The things she had just learned threw her entire universe out of whack. Naruto was treated like a leper because of something his dad did to him. The same dad who was the Yondaime of Konoha. And all of the bad things she had ever heard about him were likely because of that. But, at the same time, Naruto _was_ a good person! She knew it, and even Hinata said as much! He had never done anything to deliberately hurt anyone. He was actually always trying to make people smile and be happy.

Sure, he pranked people without mercy, but looking back on it, it was either harmless, or the people who got the not-so-harmless pranks were people who were mean to him. Granted, she could understand them being mean _after_ such a prank, but she had the thought that it wasn't usually the case. Only adults ever got the bad pranks.

Spotting a shock of pink, Ino trailed it and caught up to Sakura, Naruto's teammate, walking along aimlessly. "Hey Sakura!"

The girl in question turned and saw Ino and smiled sadly. "Hey Ino. What are you doing here?" She asked quietly, feeling extremely melancholy.

"I was on my way up to see Naruto," Ino confessed. "I was making rounds and visiting everyone who went on the retrieval mission to tell them to get well soon and found Naruto's room last and-"

"I hate Naruto," Sakura interrupted quietly, a single tear trailing down her cheek as she looked down, letting her pink hair shadow her eyes.

"Huh? What, why?" Ino asked, confused.

"Naruto promised he'd bring back Sasuke-kun and he didn't," Sakura said. "He lied to me. He's always been worthless, but he's never broken a promise before, and then he broke the one he made to me."

Sakura looked up and Ino saw the girl's eyes were puffy and red. "I hate him. I really do," she said firmly.

In truth, she knew Naruto was a good person and had many good qualities, but she was absolutely miserable, trying to figure out why Sasuke had left them. Left _her_. And then she finally put her hopes into Naruto, honestly believing he could really help, and he had let her down. She knew she was mainly speaking in anger at the moment, but didn't really care. She would feel better soon and feel up to visiting Naruto then, but for now, she just wanted him to be away from wherever she was. It hurt too much.

It was strange how much Naruto failing her hurt more than Sasuke leaving her that morning.

Ino knew how Sakura was feeling at that point, even without having to use her clan's techniques, but instinctively knew that, as badly as she needed to talk about what she had overheard, Sakura was a bad person to choose for now. She wasn't sure about the Kyuubi information, but she remembered what Hinata said about treason and execution. And she was pretty sure Sakura would do something regrettable.

"I understand," she told Sakura, deciding she could see if her father or mother knew anything about it. They were adults, just like everyone else, and were safe to talk to. "Maybe go to the hot springs and relax. It always helps me feel better, even when everything else goes bad. But I have to get home, so I'll see you later."

With that, Ino made a direct line to her home, hoping her father was back. Her team's fathers had all been out on missions, but had raced home after completing them early so they could help their sons. Chouji wouldn't have lived if his father hadn't been there fast enough with Shikamaru's father to help create the antidote to their family's unique soldier pills.

And Chouji still complained about not being able to regain his weight, even though he was eating worse than ever. It still threw Ino off.

xXxXxXx

**[Author's Notes:]** - Posted mainly for reference for a few people who've discussed this with me.


	2. Escape! With the Kitchen Sink, Too

**Title**: The Forsaken

**Chapter2**: Escape! With the Kitchen Sink, Too

**Ships**: Naruto/Hinata, Naruto/Hinata/Ino

**Author**: Paladeus

**Key**: "Speech", _'Thoughts'_, **"Demonic Speech"**, _**'Demonic thoughts'**_

xXxXxXx

**[Author's Notes:]** - Almost all of the submissions to this challenge have Tsunade appoint Jiraiya as Rokudaime Hokage. While I'm sticking to having the two Sannin talk, Tsunade does NOT have Jiraiya set to take her place.

**Warnings**: Hinata's Inner Pervert runs amok! Well, its hands do...

**Timeline**: Naruto returns on Monday (and is the day the Council decided to banish him.) All of last chapter was that day and Tuesday. This chapter starts at the beginning of Wednesday. They leave at midnight on Thursday night. Naruto is expected to be banished and out of Konoha on Saturday.

**QUESTION!** My current plan is for all graphic naughty stuff, when it comes about, to happen off-camera, so to speak. My question will be which do the majority of you prefer? Do you want to see the naughty stuff or no? Personally, I'm okay with either. I've been told I'm decent at writing lemons. Check my other Naruto stories "Hinata's Darkened Desire" and "Reforging the Past" if you want to see some examples. I'll create a poll on my profile for those of you who care enough to make a decision. HOWEVER! If Perfect Lionheart, the challenge's issuer says no, I will take him as the authority on this issue. I know he doesn't write naughty stuff (that I've read and know about) and planned on not doing it since it appeared he prefers not having it in the story.

**Recommended Story of the Chapter:** "Escape From the Hokage's Hat" by Anothvortex (Naruto/Hinata)

/s/4991314/1/Escape_from_the_Hokages_Hat

xXxXxXx

Tsunade smiled as she finished double checking she had authorized Naruto and Hinata as Chuunin and freed them, along with herself and Shizune, of all obligations to Konoha as ninja members of their clans and just allowed them to keep their ninja status and ranks. Everything she had the impromptu team of Shikamaru, Ino and Shino get two days before was now in a scroll on the edge of her desk, along with the Forbidden Scroll, all of the equipment from the ANBU's supplies and the food rations for emergencies while the medical supplies were all in another scroll for safety and ease of access.

And with Naruto around, she could unseal what she needed without unsealing all the other stuff, too. She was sure she'd need it.

Hinata had arrived earlier for their daily meetings and had given her every scroll she had access to from the Hyuuga archives and had apparently broken protocol to access the restricted area and borrowed the advanced technique and taijutsu scrolls overnight, long enough to copy them, although without the elegant framework and artistry, and had replaced them early in the morning before most others had awakened, though she couldn't get anything from the Head's Private Library. The girl was surprisingly efficient and had an odd knack for stealth.

Though, it could also have been the fact that, once she was done with her family scrolls, she spent all of her time with Naruto.

Tsunade had to admit that she was thankful to the little Hyuuga for that. The boy had been like a zombie when she went back to check his healing progress. He tried to show emotion, but it was easy to tell he was as miserable as it was possible to get. It was depressing, to be honest. But Hinata had been able to pull him out a little each time they met and, by the middle of the day, they were talking about all sorts of things and he was fine until he was left alone again.

She had even explained the types of things that happened to the Branch side of the Hyuuga family and why she was pleased to leave because of it. Naruto had almost gone feral at the knowledge, but the Hyuuga maiden calmed him and Tsunade was pleased while she was eavesdropping. The girl was growing quickly in confidence while around Naruto.

Well, perhaps it was best to say she was nearly over her stuttering and fainting while around Naruto as long as he didn't make any possibly suggestive comments. Hinata was still extremely shy and seemed to always have a blush on her face, along with a minor nosebleed, but loved spending time with him and actually talking to him. And was at her happiest when he was unconscious. It didn't take long to realize that the girl had roaming hands and that urge to explore unknown territory that made Jiraiya so infamous. The difference was that she was very reserved and didn't go anywhere naughty unless she was unconscious herself. Jiraiya was just a bloody pervert.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune interrupted the Hokage's mental checklist that had gotten a little off track. "Jiraiya-sama is here as you requested."

_'Speak of the perverted Devil,'_ Tsunade thought as she nodded, pleased to see that Shizune kept to her word and allowed _no one_ entry into her office without her approval. Had that Genin team heard the wrong information, there would be no telling what may have happened; especially with Ino being well-known to thrive on gossip and juicy news. "Go ahead and send him in."

Seconds later, Jiraiya entered the room and sat in the chair across from the desk with a large pout. "You made me wait in the waiting room?" He asked incredulously. "Those tiny chairs are uncomfortable as hell!"

Tsunade ignored his protests and got straight to the point. "I've got a favor to ask of you," she told him simply, getting a raised eyebrow.

"Oh? What would that be?" He asked, wondering what she would ask of him. The last time she needed a favor, she hooked him up with a very lithe and flexible girl in their Genin days that he had been eyeballing.

She hadn't offered him a favor since the girl found Tsunade and beat the hell out of her. Though, the medical techniques were exactly what had put Tsunade on her path to greatness.

"I really fucked up," she said bluntly. "The Council sent law reforms into effect while I was hung over and not really reading things properly and gave themselves extra powers and now they're using that to banish Naruto."

"What?" Jiraiya asked dangerously.

Tsunade nodded, understanding his tone. "I royally fucked up, but I'm not sending him out alone. I won't do that again. I'm actually leaving here with him, along with Shizune and the Hyuuga heiress, Hinata."

"The girl who's got a crush on him?" He asked, remembering a pretty Hyuuga girl that was always spying on his training during the one-month reprieve before the Chuunin Exam finals. The girl was wounded and still came to watch him. That alone let Jiraiya not stop the girl and made him decide to see if his new student would live up to the reputation of the Great Jiraiya.

That, and the girl was a pervert after his own heart. She even had her own little notepad where she was taking notes!

"That's the one. I also made her confess that to him and I think he's open to the idea, but needs a little time. He's latched onto her after we told him the situation and has come to enjoy talking with her. I hadn't considered it at the time, but taking someone his own age with him will help tremendously in giving him someone to confide in. Genjutsu or not, I'm still an adult to him, as is Shizune."

"Why don't you start from the beginning," Jiraiya asked with a sigh. He was thrilled that his godson may have a little romance coming his way, but this seemed like there would just be far too much trouble to let that remain at the top of his thoughts. However, as her story got a little longer, he grew more and more amused. It was bad, yes, but Tsunade had pulled through and made more than the best of it.

"I've got to tell you, I've always wondered if they would try something like this, or execution, or sending out a hunter-nin to take him out while away from the village, but I didn't expect this in combination with your plans."

Tsunade nodded in agreement. "So did Sarutobi. That's one of the reasons he was put with Kakashi; the man could protect his charges from most of our hunter-nin and teach Naruto to protect himself at the same time. The only problem was that the bastard only taught the brat tree-climbing and let him spar with his teammates and focused almost exclusively on the traitor due to his own history. While this means I can teach the gaki from the ground up to mold him into whatever I want, it's bad because it means I'm working from nothing. That's part of why I need your help."

Jiraiya nodded, finding little in the way of flaws in its logic. "So, let me guess. You want me to take over as Hokage to give you guys a better lead? Maybe put in a few laws into affect to really piss them off and the like?"

Tsunade snorted. "Hell no!" She exclaimed, much to Jiraiya's shock. Then she went even further. "I'll make enough laws to piss them off that they'll learn about after they find out we're gone. I need you to continue working on your spy networks since Akatsuki is still a threat and will learn he's out there, along with almost everyone else, so I can't take you with us or put you as Hokage. I'm actually asking you for a dozen copies of each of your books, all autographed with a few autographed pictures to take with us."

Jiraiya groaned and palmed his face. "Damn it, Kakashi! I told you to stop trying this!" Jiraiya yelled while shaking a fist at the shocked Tsunade. "I'll admit you did much better on the illusion this time and even had me with the story, but I'm not falling for it!"

"I'm not Kakashi, you pervert!" To prove her point, she punched the Sannin in the face and watched in satisfaction as he bounced off of the wall and came half way back to her desk before he groaned an apology.

"In my defense," Jiraiya said from the floor, "Kakashi's tried to get me to give him autographed copies like this six times already."

"Why the hell doesn't he just ask?" Tsunade asked while Jiraiya got up.

"Hell if I know," Jiraiya said as he limped back to his seat. "Why the hell do you want autographed copies of my work? I thought you hated it."

Tsunade sighed and decided that she had to tell him. She didn't want to, but it was for her adopted little brother. "I'm going to force Naruto and Hinata to read them as part of my plan to get the two together," she said with an almost non-existent blush. "While I don't like the idea of Naruto going around peeping on women, I'm willing to allow damn near anything else to make sure he has a happy and active love life. If this means turning the two into perverts and giving them rooms alone to get up to whatever naughty stuff they want to, I'm willing to allow it and plan to do so just to help the situation progress. Naruto is trying to be strong, but he's been crushed by this shit from the Council. He's always tried to work hard and force everyone's opinions of him to change, but this is like the ultimate failure. In a relationship, he can get something back out of this. Some semblance of what he had been trying to get here. Aside from that, while I hate the fact that it's got a lot of smut, it can help him understand love and romance as well. I'm loathe to say it, but your main line of books has a good and solid plot that he can learn from." She watched in exasperation as Jiraiya began to weep and grovel at her feet, thanking her and offering to suck on her toes in praise of her plan.

He had a thing for feet. She didn't understand it. It creeped her out.

Sighing, she sat down and asked, "does this mean you'll cough up the books?"

"Why do you want so many?" He asked as he got back in his chair, his grin still in place. Tsunade had long ago said she would never admit his books to be worth anything more than burn fodder, and this was while she was standing over the charred remains of his note pad.

"I figured we could offer them in trade if we needed to badly enough or sell them if we need the cash, though I don't see that as likely. We can even gain the favor of some of the perverts who're in charge since you only normally sign ten of every edition. I'm actually taking off with a shit load of money, too, but it's mostly going to be Naruto's or Senju clan cash and I hope to save that for as long as possible."

Jiraiya frowned as he realized one very, very important fact about this plan. "Aw man! I'm not going to be there to watch their advancement!" Pouting again, he asked, "so what do I get out of this, then, if I can't watch my protégé become a man?" And he hoped often.

Tsunade groaned and began to chant a mantra in her head of '_this is all for Naruto, this is all for Naruto_'. "You've offered far less to see my breasts."

After the nosebleed sent him through several walls, Tsunade could hear him yelling his answer. "YES! OH SWEET KAMI, YES!"

xXxXxXx

"Daddy!" Ino hugged her father happily, glad he was back. Chouji and Shikamaru's fathers had both arrived the day before and her father was the only one who was missing and she had begun to worry. They were all on different missions, so it was expected that they would show up at different times, but after the one-day war and learning about Naruto's past, she had been extremely tense and nervous. And her mother hadn't helped matters in the least.

"Hey, Baby Girl. How're you holding up?" Inoichi asked wearily.

"I'm doing well. So is Shikamaru. He only got a broken finger, but Chouji had to use his family's food pills to beat his opponent and almost died. He's going to get better, but he isn't gaining weight and the doctors can't figure out why," Ino said in one long breath. "Are you good to eat and have a talk with me? There are some things I need to ask you about."

Inoichi's mind first went to the subject of boys and hormones before he realized that his daughter would probably go to her mother first, and felt it was not too likely after the near death of her teammates unless she already harbored feelings that only just came out, then went to ninja-related ideas, but they were so numerous that he had no clue where to even begin. "Not a problem, sweety. Just let me drop my things and-"

"Inoichi!" His wife exclaimed happily as she wrapped him up in a big hug. "Welcome home! I'll heat something to eat for you." And then she was gone, causing Inoichi to blink and then smile down at his daughter.

"Well, I guess that means we can go ahead and speak. What's on your mind?" He asked as they entered the room he had taken as his office and stowed away his gear, refilling used items before putting his pack at its place, ready to be taken at a moment's notice.

"Daddy, you're on the village council, right?" Ino asked, deciding to find out how much her own father may have been guilty of before putting him on his guard to ask about Naruto.

Surprised, Inoichi hesitated before he sat. "Yes, I am," he said. "Why do you ask?"

Ino sat in the leather chair, one that she always remembered was made from the skin of the Nara clan's deer when she sat in it, and took a deep breath. "When was the last time you banished someone from Konoha?"

Inoichi frowned heavily, wondering what made Ino want to know such a thing. Either someone she knew had been hurt, or some soon-to-be-dead man had hurt her and she was wanting to know what to do about it. If that was the case, the man wouldn't have the chance to be banished. "The last time was about a year ago when we had to declare one of our ninja who went rogue as a missing nin, and then a few years before that to do the same to Uchiha Itachi after he killed his family and escaped the village. Why do you ask?"

Ino nodded, pleased her father wasn't against Naruto when it came to his banishment. "Do you know Uzumaki Naruto?" She asked, watching her dad very carefully. The man was far from an idiot. He helped with torture and interrogation and that required a strong mind and the intelligence to glean as much as you can from the smallest of scraps and find connections that should be almost impossible to find.

His little girl asking about banishment and then Uzumaki Naruto was far from an impossible connection.

Nervously, and wondering where she was going with this, Inoichi nodded. "I do, yes. Why?"

"Two days ago, I found out that the Council banished Naruto and I ... have a pretty good idea why," she admitted, looking away from her father.

Inoichi's hackles rose as he realized the position his daughter was in. If she overheard something about the Kyuubi and then spoke about it to anyone but him or her mother, she would have most likely been killed, unless it didn't get too out of hand, and even then, it would have been close. If someone told her this deliberately, however, then that was almost as bad as them waiting for her to take the information and commit suicide by blathering on about it. The girl was at the center of the gossip hub, after all. "Nothing we say will leave this room, Ino," he said heavily, gentle father gone and full-out warrior in its place. "But I need to know what you know."

Ino frowned, trying to decide how best to answer him before shaking her head futilely. "It would probably be best if you entered my mind and watched the memory," she told him, not sure where to begin. The amount of information and severity of it was almost mind-numbing. "But you have to promise not to do anything to stop the Hokage from their plans."

Curious, Inoichi nodded. "Alright. I won't fight. Just push me out if you need to." Getting a nod, he entered the dark void of her mind, much like a huge room filled with bubbles in the air that housed the multitude of memories she possessed and waited for her to push the one he wanted to him just as they did in practice for their clan techniques. As one bubble rushed towards him, he began to focus on the task at hand and took in as many details as he could.

xXxXxXx

Tsunade sighed as Jiraiya twitched on the ground, covered in his own drool. The deal had been very clear; she would leave herself exposed and take whatever pose he wanted for ten minutes in exchange for a scroll filled with jutsu, particularly those related to use with his toad summons, and the dozen complete sets of his erotica smut, all autographed. Jiraiya had even offered to sweeten the pot with the books he wrote about sealing over two decades ago that he planned to use after he retired from his ninja duties. It was several volumes long and explained things in such detail that it would easily become the standard in shinobi sealing education.

But now it was all Naruto's.

Thankfully, him passing out at the sight of her only half-uncovered mammaries as she began to uncover them was not brought up in the deal, so she sat there with her girls hanging out, though she was surprised to find that she enjoyed the partial breeze from the open window, without even being seen and had to admit, the experience wasn't nearly as bad as she had expected. She had honestly thought he'd stay alert through the whole thing. As it was, he didn't even get to see the complete prize. He saw the upper half of her expansive bosom, about as much in a low-cut top, and was out for the whole ten minutes.

Yes, it wasn't nearly as bad as she had expected.

Whistling a happy tune, she gathered the items and sealed them in their own scrolls and took them to meet up with Shizune and take her to speak with Naruto and Hinata, who was sure to be there with him.

xXxXxXx

"You feel normal," Hinata told Naruto as she checked his temperature with the back of her hand on his forehead, taking careful note to lean against Naruto over the bed so her chest touched his. Just because he hadn't accepted her as a girlfriend right away, it didn't mean she couldn't use every opportunity to touch him in whatever way she could. She rather enjoyed doing it, actually.

"I dunno. I just had this sudden chill race down my spine," Naruto said with a frown, unaware that Tsunade had just told Jiraiya her plans for his love life.

Hinata shrugged and held up Naruto's ramen for him to take a bite. "We'll figure it out when Tsunade-shishou comes over. Now, eat up."

Naruto grumbled good-naturedly and took the proffered noodles. "An', why aw we doing th'sh again?" He asked with his mouth full.

"Swallow and then talk," Hinata scolded lightly. "Tsunade-shishou told us to make it appear as though you're still weak, and this is quite conducive to that." Actually, it was because she was hoping to break him of the habit of eating his ramen in nearly a single bite and because she enjoyed doing it for him. He had been so welcoming to her presence that she almost felt ashamed of how nervous she had been in the past. Had she actually approached him and befriended him, there would be no telling how far along she could have had him trained into the proper boyfriend by now!

That thought alone spurred her on and kept her pushing the boundaries.

And even odder, she found that she relished the odd friendship she had with him now. He was the exact same Naruto she always knew; caring, helpful, friendly and even empowering, but by having developed this friendship with him while he knew her deepest secret, or at least the one she was most scared of him finding out, she realized there was this anticipatory state where she wanted to get him to agree to be hers. Since he wasn't pushing her away or saying it couldn't happen, then that was just great! That meant every single action she did, every little thing she said, it would all build to relationship points! It was like a game where she really couldn't lose!

Naruto did as told without a second thought and then asked, "so, are you really ready to do this? Tomorrow's the big day."

Hinata nodded immediately. "I am. I get to be with you," she said, blushing prettily as it was still different to say the words, even though he knew them, "and will be learning my preferred art from the best medic in the Elemental Countries."

Naruto nodded and then was quiet for several moments before he smiled at the girl. "I'm still glad to have you coming with us. You're the only person to really inspire me to really try hard aside from ... from Old Man Sarutobi."

"I ... what?" Hinata asked. She had helped him? When?

Naruto smiled softly at her, different from his usual ones that were so wide they pushed his eyes shut. "Right before the Finals at the Chuunin Exams," he explained. "I was heading to the stadium and was wondering if I could really do it. And you were there and told me that I screw up, a lot, but that I never stop trying." He smiled wider and could barely see her through his scrunched eyes. "You'll always be important to me for that."

Hinata felt a rush of heat fill her chest and face as Naruto's words filled her with happiness. It was impossible for her to keep her smile off of her face, so she looked down and played with the bowl that held Naruto's ramen. "Th-thank you."

As if on cue from some unholy god, the door to the bedroom slammed open from Tsunade's outstretched foot where she had kicked it open, holding a pile of scrolls while Shizune carried Tonton.

"Baa-chan! What the hell!? Don't you ever knock!?" Naruto yelled out from the side of the bed where he had taken an immediate battle stance next to Hinata who had done the same.

"Stop your grumbling," she muttered, dropping the scrolls on the bed. "We've got to finalize preparations and make sure we've got everything ready for tomorrow night."

Shizune closed the door and cast a privacy jutsu that stopped sound waves so no one would be able to hear them without the aid of an electronic listening device. "Tsunade-sama, please don't speak so loud until everything's in place," she grumbled. There were many doctors roaming this hall compared to the past few days when there were very few and any of them could be informants for the Council members who were causing problems.

Tsunade ignored her, feeling flush from her major victory over her perverted teammate. "Hinata, have you got everything ready?"

"Yes. I've copied everything of value from the Hyuuga Clan Archives and have taken everything from my home that I care to keep in the sealing scroll you provided yesterday after showing me how to use them. You said to only bring clothes for Court and enough to blend into any environment since we would be getting everything on the road, but only without the Hyuuga emblem, so I don't have much aside from a couple of kimonos. I've also placed a letter to Kurenai-sensei in my kunai pouch to mail tomorrow so she will get word of what's going on without telling her anything that could jeopardize us to make sure she doesn't worry."

Tsunade nodded pleasantly. "Good, good. Make sure to have a kimono ready for when we enter the Daimyo's court, just in case we need it. I doubt we will, but it's always good for a lady to be prepared." Turning to Naruto, she said, "we'll have to resupply you with standard clothes later, I'm afraid. All you've got are those jumpsuits and things to wear underneath while you're at home."

"Is there anything I should be worried about taking?" Naruto asked, unsure. "I usually have everything I like to keep on me and don't really leave anything at my apartment, but I've got ramen and some plants and stuff."

"Only the things you want to, but nothing else, really. You'll be getting new equipment and clothes outside. The Capitol will have a large assortment of ... well, everything, really, so we can get anything we need there. And I'm sure some of the clothes from the Uchiha Estate will fit if we need them at the Daimyo's place."

Sitting back, Tsunade decided to explain the details as they were thus far, bringing everyone up to date. "Okay, here's what we've got so far. We've taken about forty percent of the village's liquid assets by restitution from Sasuke to everyone who went on that mission to get him, Naruto getting the majority of it of course, along with what came with his inheritance from his father and twenty percent was from Senju clan funds that I wasn't even aware that I had." She decided they didn't need to learn anything about who, how or why that information had been withheld from her, or why there were standing orders for it all to be transferred to various civilian members of the Council with her death.

"We've got supplies to outfit four squads of ninja, so we have more than enough equipment, some tech for long range communications if we need them, jutsu scrolls to learn from while we're out and trying to decide what we're going to do, food to last us probably two years in isolation if we need to just go under ground and hole up in some cave system somewhere, including water, and I've released everyone going on this little expedition from any kinds of duties or obligations to Konoha or our families," she said with a pointed look to Hinata who was quite thankful.

"So, it's basically what you told us yesterday?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade nodded slightly, but looked uncomfortable. "There's more this time, actually," she said, turning to Naruto. "Naruto, would you do anything to protect Hinata?"

Shocked, Naruto nodded emphatically. "Of course I would!"

Before he could get into a rant, Tsunade turned to Hinata and asked the same. "And would you do anything for Naruto?"

Hinata simply nodded, curious to know what was going on.

Tsunade grinned widely, looking far too smug. "Good. Then I want you to know that, even though I released you from Konoha and the Hyuuga, in your case, Hinata, they could still bring you back through an arranged marriage of one form or another since you actually carry the Byakugan."

"What!" Naruto yelled, full of righteous indignation.

"I found a way around it," Tsunade said, stopping Naruto mid-rant. "As of midnight tonight, you will both be husband and wife."

THUMP!

Tsunade and Shizune both turned expectantly at Hinata's chair, expecting to see a red-faced, unconscious and smiling Hyuuga, well, Uzumaki now. Instead, they saw her smiling at the bed, cheeks barely tinted red and trailing a small line of blood from her nose. Looking back at the bed, they saw only Naruto's foot that was sticking up from the ground, twitching.

xXxXxXx

"Oh, we are _so_ screwed," Inoichi grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose after leaving Ino's mindscape. The Council somehow managed to banish Naruto without the whole group present and had apparently done so legally since Tsunade couldn't fight her way out of it and was leaving with the boy. That meant that those who did so had to have done something to grant themselves more power or somehow found a law in the books that gave them more authority than the Hokage.

And he knew a law like that didn't exist or he'd have been gone a long time ago. He always supported Naruto, along with the Nara, Akimichi and other shinobi clans other than the Uchiha who actively opposed the boy and the Hyuuga who was willing to let the boy exist if there was some form of control. And of course Danzo who wanted to turn the kid into a weapon, so certainly wanted him alive, and those who followed Danzo's lead.

However, this also meant that those who had to have found a way to give themselves more control had to have done so with only a portion of the complete Council, since those same clans wouldn't have allowed it to get that far. It was commonly done of course, as many of those clan heads had business that had them outside of the village at times, but should be impossible for serious matters like this. They had to be able to meet and eke out details while the ninja portion was on missions, but something of this magnitude? No... there would be a civil war coming. It was obvious that the Council had just split into two factions, and only one side even knew about it.

"Daddy?" Ino asked, worried at how depressed her father had just become.

Inoichi looked up and into the eyes of his little girl and realized that she was going to be caught up in the middle of things, and there was only one thing he could possibly do to help her. "You did the right thing, Ino. Had you gone to anyone else, you would have probably been put to death if it got out to the public, maybe just probation if it was stopped in time," he said while thinking plans up on the fly. "Honey? What do you think of Naruto? Is he a good person?"

Surprised in the sudden shift in topics, Ino nodded. "Yes, he is. Ever since I found out about all of this, I've been going over every memory I had of him using our Spirit Walk Technique," she said. The technique itself was nothing more than the ability to read memories of someone rather than the actual thought processes. So, it would be impossible to use for finding out what a person was planning, as it only showed memories they stored in long-term areas of the brain. But, it was also capable of being used on one's self to sort through and organize memories, which was something all Yamanaka had to do or they could accidentally give control to the enemy if their mind was too cluttered or weak for disorganization.

"And?" Inoichi asked, curious despite himself. He liked the kid, but he never really had anything to do with the young Uzumaki.

Ino hesitated only a moment before summing up her thoughts in the one phrase she had been using since the start. "I honestly don't know why he hasn't already destroyed Konoha."

"Eh?" Inoichi asked incredulously.

Red-faced, Ino amended herself. "Well, what I mean is that I would have destroyed Konoha several times over if I were him. I went around under a henge to look like him because I was curious about how much I saw was his whole life, and it was horrible. The villagers didn't even _try_ to hide their dislike of him. They called him names to his face, blamed Sasuke-ku- er, Sasuke's defection on him and all sorts of bad things. And almost all of the shops overcharged him. So, if he still wants to stay here and earn their respect and protect them, I figure he has to be a really good person. Not to mention that I've only ever seen him try to help people or make them laugh. I've never seen him hurt anyone."

Inoichi nodded, having not ever really considered the boy's position in the village and how it had to be for him beyond acknowledging things were bad. "That makes sense, I suppose."

"Why do you ask?" Ino asked, wondering what her father was thinking.

Sighing, Inoichi decided to get straight to the point. "Honey, what the Council did, it had to have done without any of the ninja clans around. Most of us support the boy having full faith and trust in the Yondaime's seal and the man himself. The civilians don't understand the nature of seals and scare far too easily. They are the ones who would be doing this to him and they managed to give themselves power somehow that went behind the ninja clans' backs. If I know them even a quarter of as well as I think I do, this could very well risk a civil war in Konoha."

"What!" Ino squawked. "But! But this is Konoha! We-"

"-Are a ninja village just like any other," Inoichi interrupted her. "We may have a kinder face than many others, but don't be fooled. We have power struggles quite often, just like any other village. Wherever there is a structured government, there will be people who want to be the top dog. The difference is that it usually happens in a political climate here rather than in a bloody coup like in Mist. You can't even begin to imagine how many attempts there have been to wage war in the past year and each year on average. Some people simply enjoy and thrive in it, and even Konoha has those people, some of them in very high places in our infrastructure."

"Oh," Ino mumbled as she sat back in her chair.

"Honey," Inoichi began as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I think Konoha is going to be in for some rough times ahead. There are a lot of people who like the boy, but many who still fear or hate him. The ninja clans are probably going to be at odds against all of the civilians soon because of this. It looks like they're somehow managing to amass power for themselves and trying to circumvent us, so you'll need to be on your toes when out in public, understand?"

Ino nodded, hesitant to offer a suggestion she had been thinking of for the last day and a half. "Um, what if I asked Tsunade-sama if I could join her?"

"What?" Inoichi asked, shocked.

"It isn't that I want to leave you," Ino rushed to assure her father, "but it's going to be a long time before my team is back on missions or training, Asuma-sensei didn't do a lot of training for us and mostly played strategy games with Shika, and is on missions now, so I won't be getting much training in and Chouji will be in the hospital for another couple of weeks at least. I could learn a lot from Tsunade-sama. I don't really care so much about medical skills, but there isn't really much here that I can learn aside from the interrogation techniques our family usually does, but with every Jounin and Chuunin, just about, out on missions, teaching a fresh Genin isn't going to be high on their to-do list and everyone is saying Orochimaru is still planning on attacking again some time, so it may be safer with Tsunade-sama where I can learn her super strength and to heal people so I can at least be useful."

Ino immediately took a deep breath, not having realized she had run out of air before she paused in sudden nervousness to see what her father would say.

Inoichi regulated his breathing as he thought through the different scenarios in his head and, as much as he was loath to admit it, the girl had a genius plan. And most important, to him at least, it kept her out of the possible conflicts that were sure to come there in Konoha. Especially with the knowledge that the ninja clans would have to go on the offensive if they wanted to not lose their rights to the civilians. Tsunade was sure to encounter trouble on the outside, but who better to protect his little princess than a real princess and Sannin?

"I think you need to ask her to see," he finally said. "But, if she accepts you, I'll help you gather as much as I can. Just understand that things will not be the cake-walk they've been here in Konoha. She's bound to put you through your paces and work you into the ground to get as good as she is and you may have to do things that make you uncomfortable since you'll be learning about what's inside of a body with her surgery techniques and such."

Ino nodded vigorously, having already considered that and feeling it would be easier on her to heal those things than cause them. "I think it will also help with our clan's normal jobs, too. I can do better with interrogation if I understand the body better."

"If you're going to find out and get your stuff ready by tomorrow night, then you should talk to Tsunade-sama now," Inoichi warned, thankful it was still early in the day. "Let her know you have my support and that I'll handle your mother if she has any problems with it and that I need to know what you need to take with you."

Ino hugged her father and left, leaving the man to his thoughts as he waited for his wife to bring his meal. He would have to meet with his friends and discuss this new situation over a hell of a lot of sake. Konoha would be in the middle of a civil war by the next week's end.

xXxXxXx

"What do you _mean_ we're getting married!?" Naruto screeched out in fear. Here, he had been thinking of _dating_ Hinata, but now he was _married_ to her!?

Seeing the sudden pang of hurt on Hinata's face, Naruto turned and held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "It isn't that I don't _want_ to be married to you, Hinata, but ... I mean ... I was only _just_ considering dating!" Turning narrowed eyes on the amused Hokage, Naruto asked, "did you have a bet on us getting together with Ero-sannin or something?"

Tsunade waved off Naruto's question. "No, no, nothing like that. He actually didn't know about it until half an hour ago."

"Then why...?"

"Because this helps us in many ways, Naruto," Shizune said, feeling she could explain better since Tsunade was doing a poor job at it. "If Hinata were not married, then her family could marry her to anyone they wanted and force her to come back. The problem, though, is that they would put a seal on her that would-"

"The Caged Bird Seal, I know," Naruto said, glaring at the wall and leaking a minor amount of killing intent. "I _hate_ that seal." In truth, he hated it more than his own seal. He hated what it stood for when Neji had told him about it during the Chuunin Exam finals, but when Hinata explained that some of the Main branch members of the Hyuuga used it to rape the Cadet branch members, or rather, to keep them in line to rape them whenever they wanted, and to just cause pain or kill those who didn't obey fully and immediately, he hated it as thoroughly as he hated Orochimaru.

"Er, yes," Shizune stuttered, wondering how he knew as she darted a furtive glance at Hinata. The seal was a touchy subject with all Hyuuga and she hadn't thought Hinata would talk about it quite yet. "Anyway, it would make her nothing more than a slave, so we did this because, being married to you, she must follow her husband and, since you're banished, they can't force her to come back without allowing you to come back as well and no one can force her away from you, even after bringing you back."

Peeved at Shizune explaining her brilliant idea, Tsunade continued on, "and it saves us from worrying about anyone else from other villages trying to do the same with either of you since you'll both be big targets for political marriages once it gets out that you're the Yondaime's son, Naruto, and Hinata is an unsealed Hyuuga. This also lets us cut down on the number of hotel rooms we'll get," she duly noted Hinata's sudden blush and wider grin, "and gives us a good cover for the two of you if you need it. We do _not_ want Hinata-chan here to have a room to herself where someone could try to come in and steal her away, do we?"

"No," Naruto grumbled, not sure about this new plan. "But I don't know how to be a husband," he complained.

Tsunade and Shizune chuckled while Hinata had to refrain herself from doing something embarrassing. "Naruto," Shizune said with a smile, "a husband and wife are supposed to be great friends who care for each other and look out for each other. They share their lives and their dreams and do their best to help each other achieve them. So, they are basically like best friends, but you get to kiss, hug, hold hands and do other stuff together as well, including raising a family later on in life."

Naruto cocked his head to look at Shizune, then down to Hinata and nodded resolutely. "I can do that," he said, showing the same conviction he did with everything else while Hinata squeed quietly to herself. Besides, he had already promised he would get rid of the Caged Bird Seal after Neji explained what it did.

_'HOORAY FOR THE 'OTHER STUFF'!'_ Hinata's inner self yelled at the top of her lungs, wondering when they got to have a wedding night.

"Good," Tsunade said. "We'll see about a proper ceremony later, but it will be official at midnight." Granted, that was midnight two days ago, but it was a minor detail. "Other than that, does everyone know their parts of the plan?"

"I'm to meet with you as normal tomorrow and we will get Naruto-kun and then go to Ichiraku Ramen for our final dinner, then I will leave to meet up with you in your office one hour later, Tsunade-shishou," Hinata said, getting a nod from the woman.

"I'm going to wait for you guys to take me from here to there, eat, go to the bathroom and make a Kage Bunshin to come back to the hospital while I'm under a disguise with Hinata-chan, then we meet you in your office and all leave together, right?" Naruto asked, getting another nod and rub on the top of his head.

"Perfect, Naruto," Tsunade praised. "Remember, I'll want you to make a good show of just hearing the information then and there, understood?"

Naruto grinned warmly, feeling a pang of hurt that was offset with the knowledge that these people were coming with him because they actually cared. "Don't worry, Baa-chan. I've got a plan," he confessed, stealing a glance at Hinata whom had heard said plan earlier. She had even offered to do the ink-work necessary since she had far better penmanship and a steadier hand to make the required item.

"This isn't going to cause me a headache, is it?" Tsunade growled out, wondering what the boy was up to.

"No," Naruto said innocently. "But I think you'll enjoy it."

Tsunade shrugged. "What the hell. Go for flashy." She was almost worried by his and Hinata's grins.

xXxXxXx

"You wanted something?" Tsunade grunted at the young blonde girl waiting outside of her office as she kicked her door open and entered, expecting the girl to follow. Tsunade didn't care so much about pleasantries since she planned on being gone the next night.

Ino followed the woman into the room, not getting a negative response in doing so, and shut the door, sitting quietly and nervously in the chair across from the older woman who was now watching her lazily, looking as though her time was being wasted frivolously.

"First, I want to say that no matter what happens here, I'll stay quiet about everything at least until after you're gone," Ino said, flinching as Tsunade's eyes widened and the desk under her elbow cracked.

"I'm going to kill Jiraiya," Tsunade said calmly, too calmly, erroneously thinking that he was the leak and told the girl all he knew. Yes, Ino was quite pretty, but she was a damned child! The old pervert should know better than that! He was as old as _she_ was! Even if Tsunade wouldn't admit her true age even to herself at this point in time, it was still old. It may be common to wed their young, female ninja at times to older men, but that was for a purpose. Not some perverted old man ogling their bits.

"Um, I overheard you talking to Hinata and Naruto a few days ago when you told him he was being kicked out," Ino said, making Tsunade narrow her eyes and frown.

"So you heard about things that are considered S-Class secrets and classified," Tsunade stated more than asked. "I haven't heard about havoc in the village, so I'm assuming you haven't already gone around telling people, so you're not going to be killed right away. Tell me why that isn't going to become the result anyway."

Ino gulped and began to sweat. Suddenly, the danger of being a ninja in her own village became more real than she had known in the past. "I want to go with you?" She squeaked out, looking unsure.

"You want to leave your village, your family and your team?" Tsunade asked incredulously, wondering what made Ino think she would believe that. "You have nothing to lose here. Try again, girly."

Ino glared at the older woman, hating being dismissed like that. "I overheard about Naruto and spent the last two days thinking about the situation. I even went around under a henge to look like him, though the Ichiraku Ramen people knew I wasn't him somehow and got mad at me while everyone else just got mad because they thought I was him."

"Get to the point," Tsunade interrupted while making mental notes.

"I decided he's a good guy and that he isn't the fox," Ino clipped out. "I had hoped to talk to my mom about Naruto, but she didn't want to have anything to do with it when she knew it was him I was talking about, even though she didn't know what I found out. My dad came home about an hour ago and I showed him my memory of the meeting and he said he thinks a civil war will be coming soon between ninja and civilians and I told him I was thinking about this because I have no chance to become a kunoichi I can be proud of since all of the upper-class ninja are spending all their time on missions to keep Konoha where we used to be and he said to let you know he supported it and would help me get things ready."

Tsunade knew she should worry more about the words 'civil war' coming second-hand through a known gossip hound. She also knew she should worry that some random factor now knew that she and the others were leaving, but all she could think about was this girl wanted to come with them and was another person who would help support Naruto. Another young, pretty girl who already knew his secret and was just coming into breeding years. "And you want to come with us, you say?"

Ino couldn't explain it, but she felt a shiver race down her spine, making her ponytail stick out and become poofy like a cat's tail. "Yes?" She asked uncertainly.

"Anyone who is a part of a clan, even if all obligations are cut off between family and village, can still be brought back due to various laws that are agreed upon by all ninja villages regarding bloodlines," Tsunade began. "If you're going to come with us, and not let anyone who gets angered by what your father is about to do threaten to bring you back for any reason, including making an example of you to punish your dad, then you will need to do as Naruto and Hinata have done and marry Naruto."

"WHAT!?" Ino's ponytail looked like a mash of kunai, sticking up to defend her honor against anyone who wanted to touch her.

"It's simple, really," Tsunade said, deciding this would be the girl's test. If she was willing to do this and go with them, especially if more developed out of it, then she would take the girl with them. And in all honesty, she was going to make damned certain Naruto got whoever he wanted. Hinata was almost a guarantee. Ino was very pretty and already decided he was worth leaving for, at least in part. She obviously had her own reasons as well, but Naruto was still the catalyst. Sakura, she knew the boy liked, but was also a lost cause. She had already offered to betray Konoha to leave with Sasuke who was leaving as a traitor. That was different than leaving for someone who was loyal and banished by a bunch of power-hungry bastards.

"Simple _how_?" Ino asked.

"Well, I'm taking on those that go with us as apprentices and I have to know I can trust them. I also have to know that whatever I teach won't be forced back to Konoha to be learned here since I'm teaching what has become Senju clan medical techniques, which I plan to leave to Naruto since I can't have children of my own. Also, we're leaving for Naruto's sake, since he was the only reason Shizune and I even came back. Anyone willing to join us will either be in this for helping Naruto first, and everything else second, or they will be either left behind or killed, whichever I feel is necessary to keep him safe." Seeing the girl's eyes widen and her face drain of color, Tsunade decided to ease the girl's discomfort. But just a little. "You promised you'd remain quiet, so you would be safe if you don't think you can marry him, but left behind, if you're curious."

"But ... I'm wanting to come along so I can actually get some training and be a good kunoichi," Ino murmured nervously. "I know all of the Jounin are being used on as many missions as they can and that we can't really work as teams anymore for training, so ..."

"That's true," Tsunade agreed. "All Jounin are being used on whatever missions they can be used on and will continue for at least a year for sure. We lost too many people during the invasion, and the same holds true for most of all Chuunin, as well. Other than family training, you'd have to rely mainly on yourself unless you could manage to talk one of the upper-level ninja to train you, but it won't be cheap, assuming they let you pay with money and not 'other' services." Sometimes, giving Genin adult rights really sucked. It wasn't _just_ a saying that Mitarashi Anko loved so much: 'old enough to kill, old enough to have sex'. Nor was she the only upper-class ninja to feel like that.

Ino swallowed as Tsunade confirmed she would learn next to nothing if she were left to her own devices and stayed in Konoha before the woman continued, unheeding Ino's mental debate.

"I'll lay it out straight for you. I'm leaving to go with Naruto because I love the little brat. I came to Konoha because I believed in _him_, not this village. This village dimmed in my eyes long ago and it took him to bring me back. Shizune feels the same. And Hinata is going because she loves Naruto. So, even though he's the only one being forced out, we're leaving directly for him. I am also planning on getting Naruto to finally experience love and am planning on making damn sure he isn't alone in all this. I've already promised Hinata to help her get him and find her worthy of him. If you want to go, you have to be willing to give it a try and be willing to give it time and at least act like a true married couple and like you enjoy being married until we can get the marriage annulled, which won't be until we can come back or you find someone else to marry instead, just to keep you safe. It's just like when we have to marry our ninja for covers to hold up under scrutiny or insertion missions to have a hidden kunoichi somewhere to gather information. It's all official, but only has to go as far as the situation requires."

"So ... I have to marry Naruto before we leave, act like I am not only married to him, but _want_ to be married to him, and if I find someone else, I can get a divorce or annulment and marry them instead?" Ino asked, wanting to be very sure. "And wait, what about ... ah..."

Her blush told Tsunade everything she needed to know. "Your wifely duties, particularly those related to bedtime fun?" The smirking Hokage asked, rather amused.

Ino squeaked and nodded, her blush now quite intense.

"In public, you will be required to hold hands, hug and kiss on occasion and give many little gestures of affection. Beyond that, you _will_ share a room and we will require that you get comfortable around each other, especially since I'll have you giving each other exams to learn my techniques. Therefore, any time you go to bed, you will be required to be in your underwear at most or less if you want. As for the sex, I'll be encouraging it, but you won't have to actually do it."

"E-encouraging it?" Ino squawked. "Why!?"

"Because I'm devoting my life to Naruto's. I'll help him train and become strong, I'll help him learn about love and be loved and I'll be there to help him through anything and everything else," Tsunade said firmly. "I've already failed him, and I will _not_ do it again."

"I ... see," Ino said. And in truth, she kind of did. Naruto had been an orphan and alone his entire life. She just didn't realize the full extent of it.

"If you want to come, have anything you need sealed in a sealing scroll and meet us back here at eleven tomorrow night. You'll need any and all jutsu you can get your hands on. We've got a lot, but clan-specific jutsu or any that may be rare that you're family has, you'll want to copy and take with you. Any clothing without the Konoha emblem can be taken, but we'll have most of the supplies you'll need. Don't take anything with the Konoha seal unless you want to take your hitai-ate as a memento. You won't be wearing it again until we can come back to Konoha."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama!" Ino chirruped in glee.

"One last warning," Tsunade said lowly. "If you do anything to hurt Naruto, or threaten him in any way, I'll destroy you myself. Do you understand me?"

The obvious sincerity within the Hokage's eyes made the younger blonde shiver, but she nodded. "I don't plan on hurting him. I don't have a reason to."

"Then tell no one but your father and remember, eleven o'clock tomorrow night in my office."

Ino bowed happily and quickly left the room with a huge grin on her face. So she had to pretend to be married to Naruto. That wasn't a big deal. He was a good guy and took a lot of effort to make the people around him happier and was always trying to be helpful. She had noticed that in her memories when she was trying to look for hints of evil and she really didn't think he would take advantage of the situation with his dislike of perverts.

As loath as she was to admit it, Sasuke showed more traits in common with a demon than Naruto did, this whole traitor thing not withstanding.

She could deal with sharing a bedroom with him and Hinata, she supposed. Naruto was sure to be a gentleman about it all.

Well, he would have if Tsunade didn't plan on forcing him into the life of a lecher with his new wives.

xXxXxXx

"You mean she actually agreed?" Inoichi asked in shock. He had honestly expected to be consoling a miserable daughter right about this time. "Just like that?"

"Well," Ino hedged, "to make sure I can't be pulled back by the Council to make an example of you or prove any points they hold power over you for what may happen, I have to officially marry Naruto like some of the kunoichi have to do on insertion missions to go with them."

Inoichi _really_ wished she hadn't said 'insertion' in conjunction with telling him she was going to get married in under a day. "I'll be having words with Miss Hokage about that," he muttered darkly.

"I don't have to ... er, do anything," she said with a massive blush, hoping to keep her father calm so he didn't ruin things. "It's just so I can't be married off to someone else and I can always come back and get it annulled later." It would also be interesting to see what it felt like to be married to the son of a Hokage, and the Yondaime to boot. Would it feel strange like it did on birthdays and holidays, or would it just be creepy and weird?

"I understand it," he said. "I just don't like it. But it makes sense. And you said he's a good kid."

"And he hates perverts," Ino supplied helpfully, not realizing that was soon to be a thing of the past. "But, Tsunade-sama said I need all my clothes and things I want to take sealed up, along with copies of any jutsu that belongs to the clan or is rare that she may not have and I'll meet her tomorrow at eleven at night."

Inoichi frowned, suddenly realizing how drastic the situation was concerning his daughter. He now had a time that she would cease being his and ... belong to another man.

He shuddered in horror. He watched kunoichi get sent off to various villages, towns and cities all the time as undercover wives, though they were usually orphans, so this was nothing new (and some were certainly as young as Ino,) but he didn't have appreciate knowing his daughter was about to be a married woman.

He was _SO_ not going to be the one to tell his wife!

"I have all of our jutsu on a scroll in case of emergencies where we have to leave quickly. I'll copy that and give it to you and help you seal everything away."

"What about Mom?" Ino asked. "She's never happy when I go out on missions and I could be gone a long time."

"We won't tell her anything. Just tell her you're going on a long mission tomorrow about midday and not what it is or anything. She'll never keep quiet," he warned. He loved his wife, but Ino didn't get her obsession with status and gossip from him, that was certain.

xXxXxXx

Tsunade took a long pull from her sake bottle as she continued to think of how to get out of the mess she had just created. Her thoughts had been sudden and foolproof at the time. She wanted Naruto to be awash in love and, for once in his life, _happy_. For however long it lasted, she wanted him to be content in his life and have that romance and love and all that sappy stuff she wanted as a younger girl.

Now, however, she had to figure out how to let Hinata know without the first Uzumaki wife trying to kill her when she learned there was now a second.

Tsunade shuddered and grabbed a second sake bottle.

xXxXxXx

Shizune smiled as she entered Naruto's room and saw Hinata snuggled up next to him, both sleeping soundly and peacefully. She had overheard Hinata promising to share some of the things married people did that she knew about.

Sleeping in the same bed fit the bill quite nicely, it seemed.

Shizune chuckled quietly as she began the handseals to do her scanning jutsu of their final night within Konoha, stopping in the middle to pull Hinata's hand from under the front of Naruto's pants where it had grasped her prize and put it out of the way. The girl moaned in disappointment while Shizune began running her technique again in amusement.

Then she frowned in confusion and apprehension. Naruto was now fully healed, but her scans were showing abnormal growth of his skeletal structure. All evidence of previous broken ribs were gone and his ribcage and sternum were now three times as dense as standard bone and his spine was now covered in the Kyuubi's chakra and being modified to a similar state.

"What in the world?" Shizune murmured as she absently grasped Hinata's roaming hand and put it back on the bed between the two teenagers before running a scan over Naruto's whole body and finding nothing else amiss aside from the presence of more chakra than was generally in a sleeping body.

"I'll have to inform Tsunade-sama about this tomorrow," she whispered to herself as she drew the blankets over the couple, this time letting Hinata's hands go where they pleased as she left.

xXxXxXx

"It's nice to meet you again, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said warmly as the boy was shown into his chamber. The sight of those blood red eyes sent an excited shiver up his spine. "I hope you had a pleasant journey?"

"Skip the pleasantries," Sasuke sneered. "You promised me power. I'm here for it. Your personal guard were defeated by my Genin classmates and I'm not overly impressed. I'm waiting to see if you're worth my time."

"Yes, I bet you are," the gold-eyed Sannin preened, not feeling bad in the least about his lost guard. "But first, I have a challenge for you. Complete it, and I will accept you into the fold and teach you. Fail ... well, there won't be any failure, I'm sure."

Orochimaru snapped his fingers and his chief medical researcher brought in a little girl, no more than four years old. She looked around with wild eyes, obviously scared and holding onto the red-headed medic for dear life. The girl was quite lovely, probably only going to gain more exotic beauty with age, and the type of child that made girls squee and long for motherhood.

"Kill the child and show me you will do what it takes to become a true ninja. Your payment for this will be your first technique," Orochimaru smirked and tossed a kunai at the raven-haired youth's feet. "There's nothing like your first kill, ku ku ku!"

The little girl clung to Karin as the boy with evil red eyes approached.

xXxXxXx

The next day, Naruto didn't have to fake his enthusiasm to be let out of the hospital while he, Hinata, Tsunade and Shizune went to Ichiraku Ramen for their dinner. Though he did have to tone it way down so as not to appear _too_ healthy.

"Three times as dense?" Tsunade asked Shizune as Naruto practically pulled Hinata towards the restaurant.

Shizune nodded. This had been the first time she had managed to get the Hokage mostly alone for a discussion and, since this development wouldn't stop them from leaving anyway, she took what she could get. "His entire skeletal structure is now three times as dense as standard bone and all evidence of previous assaults and breakage are gone. His muscles are changing now. I checked him this morning and it seems to be centered around his chest, but will be spreading like the alterations to his bones did."

"Changing how?" Tsunade asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not sure. It wasn't far enough along to determine. I could tell they were shifting slightly, but most importantly, I noticed a massive amount of lactic acid."

"Suggesting the muscles are getting broken down and regrown as if he was working out extensively," Tsunade finished for her first apprentice. "Think it's the furball?" She asked. "Making him capable of dealing and taking more damage?"

"Fuzzy, yes, but as to why?" Shizune shrugged helplessly. "If it was that, though, why wait this long? He still has a lot of growing to do so it couldn't have been waiting for him to stop, or it wouldn't be doing that now. He'd be a midget for life."

"C'mon, Baa-chan! Hinata's going to try a shrimp ramen!" Naruto called out as he dragged the smirking Hinata through the curtain and into the small building.

"We'll look into it in a few days. It doesn't seem to be causing damage and fretting right now won't help."

"Understood, Tsunade-sama."

xXxXxXx

"Naruto ... you're being banished from Konoha," Tsunade retold Naruto for the benefit of Ayame and Teuchi who had been listening to Naruto's story for the past hour.

Naruto put up a masterful performance as he confirmed what was said and then threw up his dinner before walking out of the ramen stall like a zombie and then channeling his chakra. A blue globe surrounded him and the people, ninja and civilian alike looked on in awe and horror respectively as the chakra built up around them like a heavy weight in the air before the blonde-haired boy released it with a tortured scream, covering the entire village in smoke.

Five thousand Naruto clones littered rooftops and roadways and began to yell, releasing as much chakra as they could into the air until all of the clones eventually held so little that they couldn't even keep themselves together.

Tsunade and Shizune watched in fascination as the spectacle went on in front of them. Naruto had always had massive amounts of chakra, but he always had such horrible control that it wasn't quite the trump card it would have been for others. But this was just the type of thing only he could do; he covered the entire village in a miasma-like cloak of his chakra and blanketed the entire expanse of buildings within its walls.

Except one part.

Naruto and Hinata had made a slight change of plans to what Tsunade and Shizune had expected. Naruto had actually created a clone early in the morning with all of the chakra he could put into it, leaving himself with so little that he was lightheaded for a few minutes and that was the Naruto that left with the two women while he went to the rendezvous point he had set up with Hinata. That clone would go and eat, and then throw up to get rid of all of the ramen so it wouldn't be left behind when the clone dispersed after it went to the hospital to pretend to be him.

His blue-haired wife (and odd how that didn't phase him now) showed up only a few moments after a huge cloud of smoke seemed to erupt from the whole village. "We only have a few moments, Naruto-kun," Hinata warned him as she unrolled the scroll as they ran.

Naruto nodded and both stopped in front of the main gates to the Uchiha district. "I'll pump as much as I can between my hands. Take it as you need it and try to get as much of the sector as you can, m'kay?"

Hinata nodded as she activated her clan's doujutsu. "I can see the whole sector if I push extra chakra to my eyes. But it gets painful if I do so for longer than just a few seconds."

"Just don't hurt yourself," Naruto warned with a frown as he began to pump chakra a heartbeat after his numerous clones raised a smokescreen to cover their activities.

He quickly shoved as much chakra as he could force through his chakra circulatory system and between his hands where he held it as a large blob of energy, useless now to him as every ounce of his focus was on not releasing it and causing a backlash that could hurt the two of them.

Hinata frowned and hesitated a brief moment as she saw Naruto's chakra leave his body and rest in his hands, leaving only the red of the Kyuubi in Naruto's system. It wasn't the fact that Naruto now looked red instead of blue, but that the chakra of the demon fox's chakra pushed all of that which Naruto was leaving within his body out as well, leaving only its own chakra within her love toy.

But, seeing Naruto not affected adversely, she did her part and pushed the entirety of Naruto's chakra over the Uchiha sector as her eyes began to burn and her vision to blur of everything but the chakra.

They were leaving the walls of the sector to hide their theft as long as possible, but everything inside of those massive walls were coated in a shell of blue chakra before suddenly winking out of existence with a dull whump.

Naruto felt the last of his chakra leave his hands and the rush as it all came back and passed through his fingers and into the scroll and had an odd moment of fascination as he realized he felt quite strange. Like lines of icy water were forming throughout his entire body.

"Naruto-kun, you'll need to help me to Tsunade-shishou's office. I'm afraid my vision is blurry. It'll take a few minutes to get back to normal."

Naruto looked at Hinata and nodded, losing focus on the strange feeling in his body. "Oh! Yea, sure Hinata-chan." He grabbed her hand and began to walk her through back streets and alleys so no one would see them and had nearly a minute before his clones began to exhaust themselves into disruption. "Why'd you keep going if your eyes would get hurt?"

"Channeling that much chakra just causes the muscles that control our eyes to overexert themselves, making our sight better temporarily with the cost of our normal vision afterwards and lessening the amount of time we can use our Byakugan. I just need to give them some time to relax."

It had _nothing_ to do with the fact that their hands were now clasped together or that she could stray and make him pull her into him to get her going the right way.

xXxXxXx

"When I said 'make it flashy', I _really_ didn't think you were quite so skilled as to go that far with it," Tsunade told Naruto as she and Shizune entered her office and found the two already waiting for them. "It actually made me feel bad about telling you all over again," she grunted.

"Well, it served its purpose," Naruto said with a huge grin.

"Oh? What was that, Naruto-kun?" Shizune asked. Even Hinata seemed to be smirking.

"We sealed the Uchiha sector, but left the wall that separates it to hide it as long as possible," Hinata answered. Naruto had wanted her to be the one to say what they had done, hoping to let her feel like she had done more for the prank.

In truth, it made her feel like she was the guilty party, but she would admit that it made her feel an odd sort of excitement as well. She had joined in on a massive prank! And got to play with Naruto's ... chakra, to boot!

"You ... you what?" Tsunade asked in a near whisper. "The power for that ... You couldn't _hide_ stealing it without ..." It suddenly hit her. All of those clones releasing all of that chakra had hidden it perfectly. What was more, he had come up with it the morning two days before, only a day after learning about sealing scrolls.

"I supplied the chakra and Hinata-chan controlled it," he supplied helpfully.

"I thought the Byakugan had a range limit," Shizune asked of Hinata.

"We do, but we can push more chakra into our eyes to expand on that, but it only helps for a few moments before the excess chakra causes our muscles to become uncontrollable and we lose all sight until the muscles aren't so exhausted."

"Like taxing arm or leg muscles," Tsunade mumbled to herself, wondering what could be done with that.

"So, do we have everything ready to go?" Naruto asked.

"All but one," Tsunade said as she took her seat behind the large desk. "I know it's short notice, but I wanted to tell you before we got to the gate; Yamanaka Ino will be joining us on this excursion."

"What?"

"Why?"

"Tsunade-sama, are you sure?"

Tsunade held up her hands to make them silent. "She overheard us Tuesday when we were telling you everything. We got careless and she heard from behind the door, but she hasn't told anyone but her father, who is keeping it secret until everyone finds out we're gone."

"But _why_ does she want to come?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Naruto, what the Council did to get the power to banish you was, while not illegal, a blatant act of aggression. They basically managed to give themselves control over ninja for civilian and intervillage purposes so they could get their own ninja and have them doing various things within our own walls."

"So?"

"_So_," the buxom Hokage said, "the ninja clans weren't in on any of it. That means that the civilians and the ninja are going to be fighting each other very soon for power and that could be very bad for any ninja clans on the Council, like Ino's father, where they may use their children as an example."

"How do you mean?" Naruto asked, not liking how this sounded.

"We'll use Ino as an example since she is the one going with us," Tsunade said. "Inoichi, her father, has long supported you and the actions Sarutobi took on your behalf, as did most of the shinobi members. However, the civilian side was unanimously against it all, making them all enemies that way. Now, because they have the power to order ninja for various things within Konoha, they could force Ino to do things that are horrible just because they could, and because it would make Inoichi suffer as much as Ino."

"How do you mean?" Naruto asked, wondering what could really be bad in Konoha.

"We have a red light district, as an example," Tsunade said with a frown. As much as she hated the fact, it was true. Ninja had many, many problems with all the constant death and sex and the various aspects within the red light district made an easy and profitable way for tensions to be released. "They could force her to work there under the guise of getting information out of any foreign agents who come into Konoha."

"They'd really do that to her?" Naruto asked, shocked senseless.

"It's done quite often, actually," Tsunade said. "It's an ugly truth, but men talk to pretty girls, especially after sex."

Suddenly, many things clicked for Naruto. "That's why Ero-Sennin is always going to those girls in those places, isn't it?" He asked. "He spends money on them and buys all those drinks and gets information from them."

Several eyes widened, though it was Tsunade who confirmed it. "As a matter of fact, yes. He actually owns many of those places and uses the money he makes from his books to pay the girls quite well. I'm sure there are many more than just those, but it's a major factor, I'm sure."

Naruto still scowled. "I don't like it."

"Few do, Naruto, but it's a fact of life. And it doesn't require using ninja, but doing so means they can guide conversation and will look out for certain things. But that's not the point. The point is that they can do those things and are likely to. She overheard us and knows that the odds of getting any decent training in Konoha are slim to none and her father is supporting this. What I need to know is if either of you have any problems with her coming along or with her in general."

"Only that she liked Sasuke," Naruto grunted.

"She was a pretty nice girl as long as you weren't competition for Sasuke," Hinata murmured quietly. Her vision had come back half way to the Hokage's Tower, but knowing she had just helped to steal an entire section of Konoha without them even realizing it had made her feel a little guilty. That didn't stop her from realizing something, however. "Um, Tsunade-shishou, can they force her back when they find out she came with us?"

Ino was from a clan that had a bloodline as well, even if it _was_ a minor one that didn't manifest itself physically like the Hyuuga or Uchiha. Few knew the details of the Yamanaka bloodline, but what _was_ known was that it had a more complex brain chemistry that allowed them the ability to enter another's mind. Hinata knew for a fact that the Yamanaka clan techniques didn't work for non-Hyuuga. They were in her own clan archives, but the techniques failed half of the time for any Hyuuga who attempted them. It was dependent on the will of the one trying and the one trying to stop them. That just wasn't the case with a Yamanaka.

"I've ... er, taken care of that," Tsunade said guiltily. "The only way to protect her while out with us was by ... er, marrying her to Naruto as well."

"Another one!?" Naruto squawked.

Hinata frowned and considered the situation as Tsunade flinched under her gaze. It would have made her horribly angry and extremely sad had she not already known she was married to Naruto as well, but the fact that Tsunade, the Slug Sannin, of all people, winced from Uzumaki Hinata's (her inner self squee'd) gaze made her pause and consider the Hokage's actions.

On one hand, Ino didn't care for Naruto in a romantic sense. At least not yet, though Hinata didn't think _any_ girl could withstand him for long. And that meant that she wouldn't be competing for his affections for now.

On the other hand, Hinata was a smart girl and Tsunade horrible at hiding anything on her face.

"Is there more to this, Tsunade-shishou?" Hinata asked.

"I'll discuss it in more detail later, but I want to know if either of you have a problem with her coming along," Tsunade said, not wanting to explain her plan in front of Naruto. Playing matchmaker was normal for adults who loved their family, especially much younger family, but this went a bit beyond that. Not every mother or grandmother had the ability to literally marry a young man to any woman she chose to. And she really didn't want to have to explain things to Naruto right now.

"I'm okay with it as long as Hinata-chan is," Naruto said, looking to the bluenette girl and being perfectly okay with what he thought was just another female friend in his eyes. "She's my first wife, so she should have some say in others, right?"

Hinata almost melted as Naruto claimed her verbally as his wife.

She wanted to say no, but she also couldn't let Ino be subjected to the things Tsunade had used as an example, which had been the older woman's intention, but Hinata didn't realize that. "I'm okay with it as long as she doesn't hurt Naruto-kun."

"Good," Tsunade said, stamping the paperwork she had written up to take Ino along with them with all the same rights and privileges. "Naruto, will you go into that room over there and look through the scrolls to see if there are any you want to take?" Tsunade asked, pointing at a bookshelf that was a hidden door to the Hokage Archives and jutsu library.

The boy was off like a rocket, leaving Tsunade to explain to Hinata what she had told Ino earlier in the day about giving Naruto as much love as he could possibly stand.

Meanwhile, Naruto nearly frothed at the mouth as he found himself surrounded by the entirety of the Hokage's jutsu library. This room was not sifted through by Tsunade or Shizune. The two were far too busy making plans to escape Konoha while appearing to be trying to find some loophole to keep Naruto around and, as far as they were concerned, all of the jutsu they would need was in the Forbidden Scroll, which was being taken anyway.

Naruto, knowing that the scroll was coming with them, began scanning for things with impressive names like 'grand' this and 'explosion' that while also picking up anything that he felt could have helped him in any of the fights he had been in in the past.

Like the Shadow Clone scroll and the other techniques that were listed on the original scroll that he hadn't managed to read through from the Forbidden Scroll.

One of those exploded, after all.

So he gathered his choices, scroll by scroll, picking up one that made him think first of Hinata with the word 'Heavenly' on it, along with the whole shelf that were all labeled as a 'Divine Style'.

Then he came across a shelf with a wooden chest inside of a glass case and his interest was peaked. The boy looked to the opening where the hidden door had closed and he immediately set about opening the case and taking out the chest and opening that to find three scrolls whose parchment seemed like some kind of flexible glass but as strong as steel mesh and shone like polished bronze.

_'Ooh. Shiny,'_ Naruto thought, giggling like an Uchiha fangirl. It didn't matter _what_ they were now. He had to have them. So he put the scroll back and took the case itself along with them, figuring they were in there for some purpose to begin with.

He continued along, searching for more scrolls as he figured anything that he gathered with copies of, he could just keep for his own archive until he found another shelf that had only two scrolls on it, each held on a little rack.

"Impossible," he breathed out, barely daring to reach forward and touch the large scrolls reverently. "Contract of the Monkey," he whispered, running his fingertip gently over the words and then the same to the next scroll, "Contract of the Ferret."

He unrolled both scrolls and stared first at the monkey contract, seeing the Sandaime's palm print and name. _'I didn't know the old man's name was Hiruzen,'_ he thought with a mental smile before looking at the other.

"Uzumaki Kushina..."

Naruto's grip tightened as he realized both what this was, and who it had once belonged to. It suddenly struck him that he had never known anything at all about his mother. He didn't know what she looked like, what kind of woman she had been or even if she had loved his father. He had only been told that they were his parents. For all he knew, he could have been the result of nothing more than a shared night during a long mission.

But the summons would know who she was. If they were anything like the toads, she would have spent time with them to learn and talk.

Or if she was anything like him.

Naruto looked at the closed door again through the blurry vision of unshed tears before creating a clone for each shelf to gather all of the scrolls, though he packed the summoning contracts within his own sealing scroll with his household items.

He would be signing that as soon as they were far enough out that no one could find out if he screwed up. After all, the bosses of the three contracts he had seen for himself were all monstrously huge. Who knew how much damage a hundred-foot tall ferret could cause?

xXxXxXx

"So she doesn't have any r-romantic feelings for Naruto-kun? And she doesn't have to have s-sex with him?" Hinata asked both questions for a third time, wanting to be very sure.

"No," Tsunade said, beyond relieved that the small girl wasn't angry. "She knows I will make you all sleep in the same bed in underwear or less, that she has to hug, kiss and hold hands, but anything more is up to all of you."

Hinata nodded, her face stained with a massive blush. She had found that she couldn't fault Tsunade's logic and knew she would share him with Ino if it meant having him to herself as well. Throughout much of the Academy, she had planned on different ways to join him after Sakura wizened up and accepted Naruto's love. To Hinata, it was just unfathomable that any of the girls _wouldn't_ want to be with Naruto.

That still didn't mean she had to like it. But she could accept it for now and see if Ino would be good for Naruto-kun later. Worse case scenario, Ino hurt him and Hinata would have to kill her. Best case scenario, they live happily ever after. It wasn't as if Hinata and Ino were married to each other, after all. Hinata only had eyes for one blonde and he was already hers.

It was also not too far off from what awaited her should her father have gone through with his current plans in four years to marry her to one of the Daimyo's sons who already had two wives and was always willing to have more.

"I'm o-okay with this as long as Ino-chan doesn't hurt him," Hinata said after a moment. "It will take t-time to be okay with it as a relationship, though."

"I understand," Tsunade said warmly. And in truth, she did. No woman wanted to be a possible second to her man. It was only the knowledge that Naruto could fully love more than one person that made her think this had a chance at all of working. And it wasn't set in stone. They could always choose to leave the relationship later. "Take your time, become friends and remember, the two of you are married to Naruto. You don't have to be romantically involved with her."

"I am _only_ Naruto-kun's," Hinata said with a mild glare. It didn't really matter _what_ happened. She was all Naruto's and that was the way she wanted it. Were it Naruto's wish to see something ... naughty ... happen between the two of them, she may be willing to consider it (the idea of being seen by him in such a manner both excited her and made her nervous,) but _only_ for such a reason.

Shizune giggled like a schoolgirl. Hinata was just _so cute_! She was like a ferocious little kitten! "That's all we hope for, Hinata-chan."

The group felt a pulse of chakra from behind the hidden shelf and Shizune rushed to open it and looked in, seeing Naruto picking up the only scroll from within the room.

"What on earth did you do with all the scrolls, Naruto?" She asked, already fearing the answer.

"Baa-chan said to take what I wanted and I decided I wanted it all," he responded, a little more shortly than he normally would have, though it wasn't enough to be noticeable to anyone other than Hinata who knew the boy better than anyone else.

Tsunade laughed. She should have expected that.

xXxXxXx

Ino knocked on the Hokage's office door at precisely eleven. She had a full packet of soldier pills in her pocket and nearly every possession she owned and a good many her father forced her to take sealed in a scroll at her hip.

That included, unknown to her, a box of condoms that he was far too embarrassed to ensure she would use if the situation required it. Hopefully, she would be the one to find them, too. As a ninja, he had long ago accepted she may have to do the things any kunoichi might, but he really, _really_ didn't want to become a granddaddy out of this whole thing!

She squeaked as the door was thrown open and Tsunade glared imperiously at the trespasser until she saw who it was and softened her expression.

"Get in here, Squirt," the old woman said, dragging Ino in and slamming the door shut.

"Hi," Ino said quietly, waving at her two peers who were sitting in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Did you know you're my wife now?" Naruto asked bluntly.

Ino's face pinked.

xXxXxXx

Everything had been checked and marked off of a list Shizune had thought to create and everyone was now free and clear of any obligations to Konoha. Naruto, because they kicked him out, Hinata and Ino because they were now officially married to the boy and Shizune and Tsunade because Tsunade had the stamp and could do anything she wanted with it. Also, with taking off with so much money, the entirety of the Hokage's jutsu archive a la Naruto, the Forbidden Scroll (which was the only back-up of said archive) and a good many of the village's emergency supplies, Tsunade cleared them of any and all past and present crimes after a rare moment of clarity.

Which came right after sealing away a large amount of sake that had yet to be paid for from three different liquor stores between the Hokage Tower and the West Gate.

The group of of five rushed through the trees and tried to make a good amount of headway into the night, hoping that no one would find their absences out of place for another thirty-six hours at least. They had all of Friday to get a head start and then the old fools on the Council would be looking for them on Saturday to try and get their way. They weren't going for stealth, so much as they were speed, since Hinata was the only one of the younger three who had obtained any training in moving without leaving a trail.

"Where are we going first?" Ino asked after the first hour had passed.

"The Daimyo's palace," Tsunade said immediately. "We'll be getting everyone some basic clothes to replace our current ones since Naruto, at least, will stick out to everyone's memory."

"When do we start training?" Naruto asked, wondering if there was anything they could do on the move like he had done with the pervert.

"Not for a couple of days until we leave the Daimyo's palace. We don't want to get hurt before that and we don't want to get slowed down. That reminds me," Tsunade said, moving closer to Naruto. "I want you to promise me that you won't practice any new techniques without running it by Shizune or myself first and getting our permission."

"What! Why?"

"I'm a Sannin, Naruto," Tsunade said, trying a psychological track first and foremost. "Do you agree that means I know how to become strong?"

"I suppose," the blue-eyed boy grumbled unhappily.

"And as a medic, the best in the world, I know enough about the body to know how to make it stronger, faster?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before agreeing. "Yea."

"Then understand that my plan is to make you as strong as I possibly can, all of you," Tsunade told them all, looking at the girls to make sure she had their attention. "I'm going to work on your bodies first to make you stronger and faster. Then we'll work on making you get more jutsu."

"But I am good at jutsu!" Naruto complained. "And I don't really know that many!"

"Well I'm not going to keep you from them," Tsunade amended, changing her plans on the fly. "I'll give you jutsu to learn every time you accomplish something and give you one worthy of whatever you accomplish."

Naruto grinned. "So all we have to do is get stronger, and we get more jutsu also, right? Easy!" Internally, Naruto couldn't help but remember one very pleasant fact. _'Besides, I already know how to summon. The jutsu is the same, even if the creature won't be.'_

"No, I said every time you accomplish something," Tsunade said with a thwack to the boy's head without her super strength. It was gentle enough to show him she was just reproving him. "That means whenever you learn something the right way or reach certain goals we set for you."

"Like what?" Ino asked, wondering what she would be learning first.

"First and foremost, chakra control levels," Tsunade told them, making Naruto groan and palm his face.

"Aw man! That's my worst subject!"

"Which is exactly why you need to learn it, brat," Tsunade grumbled.

"Well, what else is there other than tree-climbing and water walking?" Naruto asked. "I can do both of those."

"Being able to do the exercises and mastering them are two different things, Naruto-kun," Shizune entered into the conversation. "You can use a string to tie a knot, for example, but you can also use a thick rope. Both make knots, but you can do it with far less than you have to as long as you have the dexterity to do it."

"You mean I use too much chakra?" Naruto asked, picking up the analogy.

"Exactly. We'll have you doing so many more exercises later that you'll beg for mercy," Shizune said with a sadistic grin that Naruto matched.

"Bring it on, Shizune-chan!"

Hinata giggled, wondering if she would be able to help or even advance some herself.

Ino wondered what in the hell she got herself into.

xXxXxXx

"Alright brats," Tsunade called out as they made it to a heavy thicket of trees half an hour out of the way from any trails to ensure they would be unnoticed. "We're setting up camp here. I know this clearing is small, but with all the trees around us, we'll be out of sight and we need to get at least some sleep to run through the day tomorrow."

All three Genin yawned as if on cue.

"Naruto, come over here. I want to do another check-up to make sure the running hasn't done anything."

In truth, she wanted to get a look at the changes Shizune had commented on. There had been no real time to do so before leaving and they had to leave no matter the results, so it was best left until later since her first apprentice was monitoring the situation. That was also why they were holding off on official training to begin with. If he was in the middle of changes to his muscular and bone structures, then exerting either was a bad idea.

As Naruto plopped over without a single complaint, she ran her glowing green hands over his body and had to work to keep the shock off of her face.

As Shizune had stated, his bones were now three times as dense as normal bone and his muscles had indeed altered slightly in alignment and form. They, too, were more dense and every strand of muscle fiber appeared to have gained both elasticity and toughness. While there may be a little more definition, it seemed like all of the changes were meant to make him faster and stronger.

Then her scan went deeper and she couldn't stop her eyes from widening. "Hinata, come over here." With a squeak, the bluenette did as commanded. "Look at Naruto's chakra pathways and tell me what you see. Describe them for me."

Confused, Hinata activated her Byakugan. "Um. Naruto's chakra is surrounded by the other one and ..."

"And what?" Tsunade demanded as the girl trailed off.

"It appears as though Naruto-kun's chakra pathways are no longer round like normal, but octagonal in shape instead," Hinata murmured, getting closer to her new husband and watching the paths coming from his heart. "However, where most people's paths pulse with their hearts, Naruto-kun's remain solid and don't swell. It looks like they're stronger because of the shape. There is _much_ more chakra flowing through him and at a much faster rate as well."

"What does that mean?" Naruto and Ino asked as one.

"It means Naruto should be able to use more chakra at once," Tsunade muttered, wondering what the fox was up to. "At least the latter does. I'm not sure about the shape aspect."

"Is it the Kyuubi?" Naruto asked. It had been easier to tell Ino about the furball behind his naval than it had been with Hinata, but that was because Tsunade had admitted she already knew about it.

"It may be," Tsunade admitted. "I have no way of knowing for sure, but it's almost a guarantee. I just have no idea as to why."

"I'll ask him tomorrow," Naruto said with a shrug.

"Ask him?" Several female voices asked. "How?"

"I can go inside and talk to him. I did it when Ero-Sennin threw me off a cliff to access his chakra for the first time on purpose."

_'Kill the pervert,'_ Hinata chanted within the safe confines of her own mind.

"Is it safe?" Ino asked.

"It can't reach me as long as I don't get too close to its cage."

"We'll see," Tsunade said in a tone of voice most children knew to mean something wasn't likely to happen. "For now, it's bed time. Like I told you all, I will be teaching you everything I know, which includes medical techniques. Since you'll be practicing on each other, you're all to start sleeping in the same tent in nothing but your underwear or less."

"What!?" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, they're your wives now," Tsunade said, barely hiding a grin. "It's normal for married people to do that type of thing and it's the easiest way to get you all comfortable with bodies. When you do check-ups, most of the time the person is naked. This is easier than that, right?" She decided she would wait until after they left the Daimyo's palace to gift them with their own copies of Icha Icha Paradise. No sense in making them nervous before Court.

"I guess not," Naruto grumbled. "But if I find out you have a bet with Ero-Sennin, I'm going to make you regret it."

Naruto and the girls entered their tent after setting it up and, almost as soon as Naruto began removing his shirt, Hinata passed out with a minor nose bleed, leaving a grinning Tsunade to suggest disrobing her so his wife would be more comfortable.

Seeing how nervous just taking his shirt off made Hinata, he realized the gambling addict may have had a point with the whole thing.

Until Ino took Tsunade's advice, not wanting to be the first one of the two Naruto saw in her underwear and he passed out as well.

Outside, Tsunade grumbled and handed several Ryo notes to Shizune, who had bet Naruto would do just that.

xXxXxXx

**[Author's Notes:]** - There will be no harem. The relationship will be Naruto/Hinata/Ino all the way. Other girls may joke, and yes, Hinata thinks Naruto is the epitome of the perfect boyfriend and husband, but that's because she's quite enamored with him.

Ino does not currently have a crush on Naruto, much less love him. This is purely for becoming a stronger kunoichi. She will begin to care for him, yes, but she won't just suddenly fall for him.

I will explain the information on my ferrets in the next chapter once posted. They have a few quirks that have a fun history, if I do say so myself. At least, it'll be good for humor.

To those asking for this chapter and especially those who saw the foreshadowing of sealing off the Uchiha sector, you're awesome and here ya go. All done. ^_^

Kevin


	3. The Deal

**Title**: The Forsaken

**Chapter3**: The Deal

**Rating**: M

**Warnings**: Brief nudity, suggestive themes.

**Ships**: Naruto/Hinata/Ino, Chouji/Yugito Nii, Shikamaru/Ayame, Lee/Tenten

**Author**: Paladeus

**Key**: "Speech", _'Thoughts'_, **"Demonic Speech"**, _**'Demonic thoughts'**_

xXxXxXx

**[Author's Notes:]** - I received permission from Perfect Lionheart to get 'a little naughty' in this story (meaning that where I planned on taking it is okay.) I plan on a theme cross between the leader as Indiana Jones (Naruto,) Roshi from Dragon Ball Z (Hinata) and something akin to The Mentalist's Patrick Jane (Ino.) Tsunade would be the ancient gambling addict who thinks she's still a sexy twenty-year old ( ... my best friend's mom...) and Shizune will be the frustrated assistant who finds herself in outlandish situations because of others' actions (I'm still debating the use of the occasional skimpy outfit to make things more annoying for her – Like a 'Sexy French Maid', Catholic Schoolgirl, cat-girl outfit, etc. If you've seen "Sorcerer on the Rocks", you understand what I mean. If not, It's one episode and a decent show to alleviate boredom. Not a lot in re-watch value, though.)

**Poll**: Hidy hidy – The poll was so one-sided it wasn't even funny (well, maybe a little funny.) More than nine out of ten wanted things to be a little naughty. Perfect Lionheart has also given his blessing for a little naughty as well. This means there will be some naughty in the story. I will not have anything graphic in this (I have other stories if you really care for that stuff.) But there will be a LOT of innuendo, talk of naughties and lots of start/stop of those scenes. **Basically, this means there will be plenty of sexual-based humor and gratuitous nudity.** I just find a perverted Hinata, who TRIES to not be obvious, funny as heck.

**Tsunade not sensing** Ino's presence (along with Shizune's missing her) was on purpose, as many of you have stated, but it was NOT to get Ino into the relationship. In fact, that is a byproduct of this reason to show how serious this problem is. **Tsunade's skills and abilities have degraded horribly** in her decade of not taking her shinobi career seriously. She was almost constantly drunk or hung over and constantly running from debt collectors. She wasn't really using her healing abilities religiously, she DEFINITELY wasn't training and she certainly wasn't keeping her skills from stagnating. This is what the thing I forgot in the author's note on the first chapter was about. Tsunade being responsible for Naruto's predicament and it being her own problems and direct actions that caused all of this to happen. Addiction to sake and to gambling, for example. That is why Ino became a part of this (and to show she isn't an idiot by showing her looking to the future.) I just got tired of so many people making the Council out to be the bad guys and Tsunade having no part in it when she could, and SHOULD, just kill the lot of them and ask if anyone else has a problem.

This was originally going to be twice as long, but people complain like crazy if I get more than 10K words. I have no idea why, but they do. I wanted to get the panty raid and talk with the daimyo in, but that would have been at least another 7K words. 14K is enough, I am told. At least the next chapter will be easy to write. It'll be a bridge, and then the first mission comes about, offered by the daimyo himself.

**Nemui** means "sleepy".

**Recommended Story of the Chapter:** "The Missing Hokage" by Maverick9871 (Naruto/Hinata, possible future Harem)

/s/4684099/1/The_Missing_Hokage

xXxXxXx

Tsunade came out of the tent she shared with Shizune, using their own while having absolutely _no_ desire to actually _watch_ her plans for the three new Chuunin come to fruition while she was only feet away from them. Her clothing was rumpled and wrinkled since she had passed out after only a few minutes of talking with Shizune and finishing three bottles of sake. She had awakened to the smell of roasted meat breaking through the smell of alcohol and her stomach, now quite used to having nothing in it but alcohol, roared a battle cry as it sought out sustenance.

It sounded oddly like Naruto when he got bonked on his noggin.

"Wow," the Hokage drooled at the sight of the new Uzumaki Ino roasting several dozen fish and a couple rabbits over a fire she had made. She was quite used to making a lot of food with Chouji on her team and felt that, while they may not eat it all now, they would have it for later. "Been married less than a day and you're already making breakfast. Damn the brat's lucky!"

Ino blushed heavily and scowled at her superior. "I just woke up early, is all!" She hissed, embarrassed as all hell. When Naruto had passed out, Tsunade had told her that her orders were to be obeyed and, since he couldn't do it himself, she had to disrobe her new husband and that, combined with very naughty dreams filled with half-naked, blonde-haired and blue-eyed men, had caused her to awaken in a very uncomfortable state that morning.

A very heated, sticky, uncomfortable state...

Somehow, despite trying to huddle in the corner of the tent in her sleeping bag, she had escaped it and snuggled up to Hinata who had been closest to her. It wouldn't have been so bad if Hinata's hand hadn't been hidden beneath Naruto's boxers and if the bluenette wasn't grinning so thoroughly, even in her sleep.

Still, it was more than enough to make Ino desire a cold shower and the best option for that had been hunting to keep her mind focused. Hence the three dozen fish and five rabbits. While she couldn't bathe while on the run, the river had been cool enough to splash on her face.

"Well, whatever the reason, it smells really good. Thank you, Ino," Tsunade said, rubbing her eyes and temples from the dull thud of a slight hangover. She hadn't had nearly enough to get even slightly tipsy or to make her forget the situation, but no matter what Naruto thought, ramen was _not_ the best of foods and she had barely eaten anything the night before at Ichiraku Ramen, so the alcohol had hit her system a little more heavily despite her high tolerance.

"You're welcome," Ino muttered. "When will we reach the Capitol?"

"Three days, two if we push hard. But we shouldn't need to do th-" A yelp of surprise caused both blondes to look to the tent where Naruto came out in a rush, still in his boxers and red all the way down his chest and looking shocked, making Ino goggle and Tsunade to smirk triumphantly. "Well, Naruto. I see you've got a morning visitor," Tsunade taunted, pointing down to his waist. _'This boy doesn't do _anything_ in a small way. Lucky girls...'_

Naruto frowned in confusion before looking down and seeing the results of Hinata's movements from trying to get more comfortable while her hand remained on him. Then, with wide eyes, he looked to the woman that was as old as his grandmother, to the woman who was now his second wife and staring at his ... visitor, then squawked and ran back into the tent.

With a giggle that sounded suspiciously like a female Jiraiya's from within the tent a second later, Naruto stepped out with as much dignity as he felt he could muster, regardless of the giggling one still inside, now that he was dressed.

"Perverts all of you," the boy muttered darkly, unaware of Hinata scribbling furiously in a little notepad from her jacket pocket.

"That's enough, Naruto," Tsunade grumbled as Shizune stepped out of the tent and came to help with breakfast while Ino rushed into the tent and away from Naruto. Days before, Ino would have been furious that the first time she saw a male's anatomy in person was not an Uchiha's. But now, she just realized that she would soon be forced to see them more often and was _really_ wondering if the medical field was worth the embarrassment.

"All right everyone," Tsunade said as the group got into gear. "Eat up and get ready. We move out in half an hour at the latest. Naruto, time for your morning check-up."

Tsunade activated the Mystical Palms diagnostic technique and scanned Naruto's body again and found herself amazed at what she was seeing. The boy's bones were still three times as dense as normal for a human, but where his muscles had been forming stronger fibrous tissue, it was now finished with that and his blood vessels were now increasing slightly in number and appeared to be designed to provide more oxygen to all of those muscles, which would allow faster healing and increased stamina since they should, in theory, be able to provide longer use without wearing down along with providing more oxygen to his body. Especially when added to his muscle fibers being more resilient to wear and tear through what apparently had been a conditioning process. Even his tendons now appeared to be made of something far more durable. One of the more impressive aspects, however, were groups of muscles added to his joints and generally well-protected areas that seemed to be designed to tighten around his arteries to prevent major blood loss in case he lost an appendage.

It was then that Tsunade noticed the demonic chakra over Naruto's body. It wasn't that it was harming him – Oh no. In fact, she was able to tell, without a shadow of a doubt, that it was scanning his body just as she was doing at right that minute.

xXxXxXx

"Why not?" Danzo asked the secretary in front of the Hokage's office when told he was not permitted to enter. That no one, in fact, was allowed to enter until midday tomorrow, the day Naruto was to be banished and the day after her laws took effect. There were even twenty ANBU stationed at the door with orders that only one could leave at a time and anyone who attempted to pass was to be killed. The show of power and force would have impressed the old war hawk if it didn't piss him off so thoroughly.

"I'm sorry, Danzo-sama. I'm afraid I don't know. No one is allowed entry until tomorrow after noon according to Tsunade-sama's orders. Anyone attempting to will be er, dealt with...," the secretary said nervously. She was used to giving bad news and standing up to basically everyone under the Hokage's orders, but with events from the last few weeks under Tsunade's rule, her authority had been less and less ... commanding. And the man who was currently dominating in that area was _not_ one she was hoping to give bad news to. Only knowing the ANBU had their own orders that she enforce hers kept her from squealing about the one person allowed entry.

Danzo turned and strode slowly from the room, lips curled into a snarl that passed as a smirk. _'So, the bitch hopes to try and rectify the situation, does she? Ha! There is no coming back for her now. However, this move troubles me. It's blatant and we cannot issue missions since she had all of our files in that room. Our clients shall not be happy by the missed day, but in the end, I suppose it will be worth it. This should humble our dear Hokage.'_

As happy as this made him, something still didn't seem right. And to be perfectly honest, he couldn't tell what that something was. It wouldn't be until later that evening that he realized every ANBU there was loyal to Tsunade first and the Council second and had been using Naruto's move against them all by releasing enough chakra to cloud any potential readings from the office.

But Tsunade's laws would be in effect by then. Even now, Jiraiya had numerous copies and was taking them where they belonged, threatening untold pains to any who talked about the new laws before their implementation.

xXxXxXx

"Yea, what do you want?" Inuzuka Tsume growled as she opened the door and found the heads of the Yamanaka and Nara clans outside of her door. The day had been the first she had had off in two weeks and she was not amused. Not amused at all.

The woman was petting her kunai lovingly.

"We're about to go to war," the Nara drawled out lazily, looking more alert than the woman could remember seeing in some time.

Tsume straightened up and became fully awake in an instant. "Orochimaru?"

"No," Inoichi said with a sigh. "The Konoha Council, civilian side. Can we come in? Hiashi will be here soon, along with a few other clan heads brought in that aren't aware of what's going on yet."

"You're serious," Tsume accused, shocked more that this wasn't some prank. "Well fuck. Come in," she sighed, wishing she had made it for her tea before hearing their steps approaching.

xXxXxXx

Naruto's eyes shifted back and forth as the group stopped at noon for lunch. He had pilfered the scrolls Tsunade had sealed all of their stolen sake in and had been looking all day for a moment in which to sneak away from the group for a few minutes and found this to be the first opportunity and, if the first half of the day was any indicator, it was bound to be the _only_ opportunity he would get.

"See you guys in a few minutes. I've got some... er, _business_ to take care of," the blonde-haired boy said, sounding nervous enough that Tsunade and Ino both scowled.

"Really don't need to know that, Naruto," Ino grumbled. She really hoped Naruto wasn't the same type of male her mother occasionally complained about, coming in to use the bathroom while she was in the shower or farting under the blankets and then covering her head under it so she would be forced to smell the powerful stench.

Boys were proud of the weirdest things, sometimes.

"Make it fast. We'll be eating in about ten," Tsunade said as she waved her hand airily, thinking the boy had to relieve himself.

Naruto took off quickly, jumping through the trees without a second glance as he pulled out his sealing scroll of household goods, unsealing the two new summoning contracts after a hundred yards. He quickly ran a mile away from the others to ensure he was far enough away so as to not accidentally crush them under Gamabunta's giant, warty butt.

_'That would so be wrong! Maybe a few extra hundred yards...,'_ he thought.

At the mile and a half mark, Naruto pulled out the monkey and ferret contracts and unrolled them, biting his thumb to sign with his fingerprints and palm print. "Okay, first thing's first," Naruto mumbled, flashing through seals and slamming his still bloody palm to the ground. "Summoning Technique: Toads!" Power rushed up his chest and down his arm in a flash, the force of the chakra expelling from his hand sending him airborne from the sudden release and making him feel oddly tingly before his vision was clouded in smoke.

"**Eh? Why've you summoned me, kid?"** Gamabunta's deep voice called out as his eyes narrowed and looked up to see the blonde sitting on his forehead.

"Hey Gamabunta! Remember when you said we should share a drink some time? Well, I figured we should do that now so I can talk to you about a few things at the same time," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.

"**You've got sake?"** The toad boss asked, sounding surprised. No one had been foolish enough to actually go out and buy enough sake to sit and drink with him. But then, he wasn't about to turn down a free drink, either. **"Sure kid. Where's the drink?"**

"Just a second," Naruto called out, leaping down and summoning a couple hundred clones who all unsealed approximately a thousand gallons of sake, Tsunade's entire stash, and began dumping it all into a large cup that fifty more clones had transformed into.

"**How'd you make the cup? I thought your illusion technique was just that, an illusion. Not an actual transformation,"** Gamabunta questioned, eying the cup speculatively. **_'Why the hell would he make it have toad, ferret, monkey and fox designs on it? Or his own face? That's creepy on a whole new level...'_**

"Well, when we fought Gaara and Shukaku, you had me transform the both of us into something with teeth and claws, and when I transformed us into the Kyuubi, you were able to hold onto him," Naruto said with a shrug. "And my Sexy transformation is an actual transformation and I transformed into an actual windmill shuriken on my first big mission, so I figured I'm just better than the others or something."

Gamabunta puffed on his pipe as the clones finished filling the Naruto cup and took a slow sip, savoring the flavor and ensuring that it would last. It was a surprisingly good stock considering the boy had mixed the high and low quality sake together. To say nothing of all the various flavors mixing around, making it more of a rather exotic blend. **"Ah. This is a very good quality sake. Good job. You may be a proper subordinate yet,"** the old toad quipped. In actuality, it wasn't. You don't really get good quality when mixing good and bad. It was just strong, which is all he really cared about.

"Maybe," Naruto said sadly. "Konoha kicked me out, so I don't know if that'll mean I can't be your summoner anymore or not."

"**What! Why would they do that?"** Gamabunta questioned loudly, looking down at the tiny human. This brat had been as loyal as his father! For them to kick him out meant something had gone horribly wrong.

"I'll explain that," Tsunade and the others came out from the trees. "And Naruto, I thought I told you no techniques. You were still close enough we could see Gamabunta as if he were right beside us. If we weren't going to be at the Daimyo's palace before this little stunt could alert Konoha, I'd be upset."

"Technically, you said no '_new_'techniques," Naruto said nervously. "I also signed the monkey and ferret contracts since I know how to summon and those fall into that line, too. I was hoping Gamabunta would tell me if I could summon them since my mom had the ferret contract and I want to learn about her from them and I wanted to at least tell the monkeys what happened to the old man."

"**You signed other contracts?"** Gamabunta asked curiously only a moment before Tsunade. The latter wasn't even aware those weren't held by the contracted animals.

"Ferret and monkey," Naruto confirmed. "My mom had the ferret contract and old man Sarutobi had the monkey and I was hoping they would let me summon them, but I wanted to know if you would be okay with it. That's part of why I took Baa-chan's sake for you."

"You what!" Tsunade screeched.

Naruto glared at the older woman. "What? You said the Council was able to do what they did because you were always drunk or hung over, and you stole enough to give to a seven hundred foot tall toad. I may not be able to be Hokage anymore, but I can still protect the people that are important to me, even if it means from themselves! Admit it. You're a drunk. I may hate what happened, but I don't blame you even though it was because of you it happened. I don't want you drinking anymore unless it's a bottle at most or something with someone like the Daimyo. I won't make you stop totally, but Ero-Sannin said you've been drinking since you left Konoha. Hell, you were even drunk when we found you! You admitted that Ino-chan overheard us and you'd think a Sannin would be able to sense her. At least the stories always say no one could really sneak up on you. You've spent so much time running from debt collectors that you can barely call yourself a ninja anymore!"

"**Why don't you tell me what's going on,"** Gamabunta said, hoping to get back on track. He was surprisingly busy in life for a toad. Jiraiya's use of toads in conjunction with his spy network was not just a coincidence. They were the demonic version of the yakuza. **"And perhaps you should try to summon the other bosses to explain to them at the same time. I haven't decided yet if I'm okay with it, but if they're going to agree, they should know what's happening as well."**

"Right!" Naruto cried out, moving a bit away to summon the monkey king, Enma, first, followed by the ferret king, Nemui.

"**What's going on?"** Enma asked, looking around with narrowed eyes.

"**Who interrupted my nap?"** Nemui pondered, opening only one eye to ensure there was no fighting and then closing it, hoping to fall back asleep.

"**My summoner,"** Gamabunta began, **"was apparently kicked out of his village, Konoha. I'm about to find out why. But he found and signed your contracts and I told him to summon you two to ensure you know what happened."**

"**And who are you to summon the monkeys?"** Enma asked. He knew who the boy was. Sarutobi had brought him up before. But the monkeys were meant to be a family contract.

"I basically wanted to let you know Jiji died," Naruto said quietly. "I figured you should know if you didn't already. I was also hoping I could summon you for stories of the old man and to help in serious fights if needed." He turned to the sleepy ferret, who was certainly emulating his namesake. "And I signed the ferret contract because my mom was the last one to sign and I was hoping to learn about her. I just found out who she was the other day but don't know anything about her. I don't even know if she was married to my dad or if she was even happy to have me. All I know was her name."

Nemui opened his eyes and looked at the boy who claimed to be the spawn of Kushina carefully. **"Who was your mother, kid?"**

"Uzumaki Kushina," Naruto said, looking between the three bosses. He was surprised and curious about their sizes. While Gamabunta was absolutely _huge_, Enma was just a few heads taller than an average adult at roughly nine and a half feet or so, and the ferret boss was about sixty feet long and as big around as Naruto was tall.

Hinata and Ino had gone googly-eyed at the sight of a giant pile of cute, fluffy animal. Hinata's eyes were almost as starry as when she looked at Naruto, and he was the epitome of cute to her!

Tsunade winced, fearing what would come from _that_ discussion, and chose instead to tell the three bosses about the Kyuubi, who Naruto's parents were, Sasuke's defection and then Naruto's exile, ending with how all of them were there for Naruto's protection and because they would rather leave with him and planned to train him up and how he was now married to the two younger girls.

"**That's a really crappy situation, though I've gotta say great job getting two cute mates,"** Nemui said through a yawn. **"My name is Nemui and the ferrets are at your service whenever you need us as long as Gamabunta is okay with it. If he's not, feel free to summon us just for stories or to pass the contract on to your children. We are only for the Uzumaki family, though, or your children, regardless of the name. We just don't work with snakes, wolves, lions, bears or beavers. Or basically anything that will try to eat us. Just try to keep some snacks on hand for us and we don't like getting wet. Summon us on a boat and we'll throw you overboard before leaving. I'm going to take a nap."** With a bamph, the ferret king was gone, back to sleep in peace in his hollow.

The four girls wondered why the ferrets would be so against water when their previous summoner came from Whirlpool.

Enma's first reaction had been to tell the boy 'no'. But his knowledge and discussion with Hiruzen regarding the boy may be worth taking the risk of having a multi-summoner. And he had yet to know if his previous summoner's heirs would be worth serving. He already knew his son, Asuma, was a lost cause. The contract would have been passed on, but he failed to uphold the values the monkeys followed. The moment he left his family, the monkeys refused to be summoned by him. Poor Konohamaru still didn't know Asuma was his father(1.) **"I have long served the Sarutobi clan and Konoha. What they have done, however, is against everything they, and Hiruzen, stand for. I would like my contract to find its way back to Konohamaru, who was supposed to receive it when he became a Chuunin, but it would be much safer in your hands than where the Council could get to it. Should Gamabunta find it acceptable, I and my clan shall serve you until then. Just don't take too long to return us to our rightful home."** The monkey provided a bow of his head, the most his summoners would get, and more than anyone else would receive, then poofed away. They could talk at a later time, after all.

Gamabunta sighed in thought, thinking things over. One one hand, the toads had never had a multi-summoner before. On the other, this was, he believed, the child of prophecy. The child of prophecy who had just given him a lot of expensive sake. And even without that, his sons absolutely loved the kid. Oh well. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. **"Remember who your primary and first summons are, Naruto, and we shall accept the other summons. Similarly, if you come across others, I will allow them so long as we are not outright enemies, including Tsunade's slugs if it comes to that. However, you are now our primary summoner. Jiraiya no longer has that right. If your new family signs the contract, we will not require them to work only with our allies if they have other contracts, but you should be careful that your summons and theirs don't fight amongst themselves. We would never get along with snakes, for example, and I know there are summoners of that who oppose each other."**

"Why isn't Jiraiya your primary summoner anymore?" Tsunade asked in shock. For a person to lose that right, it was actually quite a dishonor! At least unless they were passing that mantle on themselves.

"**He will know,"** Gamabunta said cryptically. **"Thank you for the drink, Naruto. It's the first time in a long time I've tasted human sake. No one else was actually crazy enough to get enough for me to drink."** With that, the old toad disappeared in a giant poof, leaving the five humans alone.

"Naruto, there hasn't been a multi-summoner since before the founding of the hidden villages," Ino expressed in surprise. She had been quiet and listening throughout the entire meeting and had been increasingly awed by her new husband. She would admit to not knowing much about summons or their contracts, but she _did_ know that summoning the bosses took a _massive_ amount of chakra, and Naruto had just summoned _three_ of them!

"What's this about taking my sake without asking?" Tsunade asked dangerously.

Naruto frowned at the older woman, growling for a second before shaking his head. "Drinking in moderation is okay, but I don't want you getting drunk again. _Ever_. Like I said, I don't blame you for what happened, but I _do_ blame you for _allowing_ it to happen," he said lowly, glaring at the older woman.

"Naruto-kun," Shizune started, seeing her mentor's eyes widen and feeling the boy may have been a little harsh, but she was interrupted by him before she could continue.

"No," he bit out. "I don't want her to get hurt or killed because she's drunk or has a fuzzy head. She got drunk last night and already worries that they may send out hunter-nin. Who's to say they hadn't been watching for us to leave and attacked last night? She was taken advantage of by those pricks on the Council and she couldn't do anything about it because she was drunk and hung over. I won't let her continue on like that."

Only the fact that she knew providing her usual threats in this situation would be taken poorly or break any connection he was willing to allow her to have kept Tsunade from threatening to leave the brat to the wolves. Well, that and the fact that he had a valid argument. Still, it didn't help knowing she was now going to have to watch her alcohol intake. Or that he was entirely right. She had put them all at risk last night for drinking at all, much less three bottles on an empty stomach.

"Maybe we should get back to camp," Ino suggested hesitantly, hoping to diffuse the hostility she saw rising in the oldest blonde. "Lunch has been boiling for a while now."

Indeed, when Shizune rushed back to camp, she found the leftovers from breakfast she had been using to make a stew were now a brick-like sludge in the kettle. The Sannin's apprentice sighed. _'Just as well, I suppose. We have to be careful to keep an eye on what we eat so someone doesn't add something to it while we aren't watching.'_

Naruto suddenly found an opportunity to proclaim the greatness that was instant ramen, making Tsunade groan. She was not fond of the stuff to begin with, and this was just Karma coming back to bite her in the ass. There really was no other explanation.

xXxXxXx

"Thank you," Hiashi said in a silky-smooth voice, checking his teacup for dog hairs. He respected the Inuzuka for their strength and power, but never could see them as more than humanized dogs when the majority of them raised their voices at the slightest provocation of things that irked them. They held nothing of the grace and poise that the cultured Hyuuga held in such high esteem.

Except for that one time Tsume showed up in a black kimono with dark red trim and designs at a village event; a silken garment that clung to her and made her appear a dark angel. That memory still made him a little hot under the collar on occasion.

"You wanna tell us what the hell is going on, Inoichi?" Tsume growled, not totally unaware of Hiashi's stare on her firm rump as she bent over to feed her canine companions, who were very much aware of his eyes. The heads of the major clans were now all present: Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Nara and Aburame. Being the entirety of the active ninja side of the Council wasn't lost on any of them.

The blonde man sighed heavily before beginning. It was going to be one of those days. "First thing's first. This doesn't leave this group for two days. Make arrangements if you must, make your plans, but if word gets out about this before our window is open, we risk far worse than what we're currently facing. Understood?"

"Aw hell," Tsume muttered darkly, refraining from adding alcohol to her tea like a few of the others. Apparently, this would require a calmer mind, and she didn't need her mind weakened during the conversation, no matter how much she thought she would prefer it otherwise. "Agreed."

Once he obtained numerous signs of agreement from the others, Inoichi nodded and took a deep breath. "I'll start at the beginning. Yesterday in late morning, I came home from my mission to find Ino waiting for me. She asked questions about banishment and then about Uzumaki Naruto before confirming she overheard he has been banished from Konoha."

"WHAT!" Tsume roared as she stood from her chair fast enough to fling it backwards. The action caused Hiashi to look at her calmly, one thin eyebrow rising very slowly as he watched her breathe heavily in anger.

"She showed me her memories of the incident she overheard," Inoichi continued, choosing to ignore the excitable woman's outburst much like during Council meetings as he told them exactly what he witnessed in Ino's memories. Sadly, there wasn't much in the way of visuals, so everything was based on speech and tonal inflection, but to trained ninja, it was more than enough.

"Troublesome women," the Nara clan head mumbled, sitting up and no longer resting his eyes.

"So the civilians think they can just pass whatever laws they want and we'll bow to their wishes without a second thought?" Akimichi Chouza asked, amused and upset at their audacity. "Do they honestly think we won't stop them? Or fight against it?"

"You said your daughter left with the Hokage, her assistant and the boy. Are you aware of any of her plans?" Hiashi asked, watching the man critically. "There is something you haven't yet told us."

"Sometimes, I hate your perceptive nature," Inoichi grumbled through a sigh. "The girls who went with Naruto, except for Tsunade and Shizune, of course, had to marry him so the Council couldn't force them back and use them against us."

"Girls as in plural?" Hiashi asked, suddenly wondering when the last time he had seen Hinata was. Somehow, he couldn't help but think this was too impossible an opportunity for his eldest daughter to _not_ have gotten wind of and ... he wasn't really sure _what_ made him think of her so suddenly.

"Hinata went with them as well," Inoichi explained.

"Shut up!" Hiashi bellowed, looking at Chouza with a furious glare.

"What? I made one little gagging sound!" The rotund man asked innocently.

"So they married?" Tsume asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're okay with that? Why'd you even let Ino go? You haven't exactly been chummy with the boy, but you haven't been in his camp, either."

Inoichi sighed, even as the others paid more attention to him now than during his briefing, especially Hiashi. "She's a kunoichi now. At any time, she could be ordered to sleep with someone for information or to kill him during or after the act. Sandaime-sama was kind-hearted enough to generally not do something like that, as was Tsunade-sama, but it could always end up a necessity on a mission and I strongly doubt the civilians would see it that way and they will use any excuse to hurt us. Hell, many of you are aware of some civilians attempting to hire specific kunoichi for sex-related missions on their own, guarding them from one town to another and taking care of their 'physical' needs at night until they return. Sarutobi was kind enough to not bring it up and they weren't stupid enough with Tsunade-sama, but you know it happened. She also brought up a very good point that was the real deciding factor."

"What was that?" Tsume asked. She doubted she would have allowed Hana get away with it, regardless of what she said.

"She wasn't likely to be getting any training here and the best person to train a kunoichi was Tsunade-sama. Plus, with the likelihood of civil war, she's safer out there than here."

"I could have trained her," Tsume countered. "I've got training with Hana each week."

"In your clan techniques, yes," Inoichi agreed. "But she needs the basics from damn near the ground up and Hana is far more advanced in every way than Ino. So is Kiba. Asuma was her sensei and I know how minimal his training was. Shikamaru didn't even come home most days smelling of sweat, although he reeked of Asuma's smoke, and Ino usually looked just as fresh as she did the morning she left. There isn't enough time for all of us to take care of our own children with the number of missions we have to take right now, much less the children of all of us."

"Married?" Hiashi asked hollowly. He couldn't quite understand why that hurt him so much. Hinata was weak. She was an abomination to the clan and far too much like her soft mother, the woman who left him after only six years of marriage. Hinata, it seemed, was doing much the same.

"She's a kunoichi," Inoichi said with a shrug. "As Hokage, Tsunade-sama has the right to marry anyone at any time. She doesn't need permission of the ninja in question, let alone their clan heads. And Ino assured me Tsunade promised she didn't have to get physical. It just had to be a public thing so people would see them together and looking as though they were romantically inclined and legal, meaning on paper so no one could force them back here."

"Perhaps Tsunade-sama will be able to succeed with her where I have failed," Hiashi said with a sigh, lost in his own thoughts and barely paying attention to Inoichi. As clan head, he was highly disappointed in the girl. But, as a father, he hoped she found peace in some way. Even if that was the extent he could care for her. She was no longer a Hyuuga, so her actions no longer affected the clan, so he could now at least hope the best for her. "If nothing else, I just hope she doesn't pick up any annoying habits from the Uzumaki boy."

"Or from Tsunade-sama," Chouza said with a grin, hoping to bait the Hyuuga head.

"What do we do about the civilians?" Aburame Shibi asked, getting the group back on track. While watching Hiashi get flustered was fun, their priorities were getting skewed from target.

"We need to figure out who is actually behind the coup," Shikaku said, not raising his head from where it was tilted backwards to stare at a cloud-like spot on the ceiling. He ignored the spot next to it that looked like Kiba's face, even if he did wonder how it got there. "If we don't know who's behind it, we won't know what they're goals actually are. Then we have no idea how to defend against it or launch our own assault preemptively. Right now, we're going in blind. We know they're against us, but that's it. That's like going into Iwa and knowing they dislike us."

"We should also stock up on whatever supplies we need so we don't have to risk breaking into shops when the civilians get them to stop serving us," Chouza offered. "It'll be costly, but prices are only going to go up anyway if Tsunade-sama really took so much of the money and civil war does break out."

"I will take care of weapons," Hiashi offered. "I will have all shops bought out by sundown, raising the cost five percent to standard shinobi who wish to buy them back and remaining at-cost for each of our clans for future needs while buying standard stocks like kunai and shuriken in all neighboring villages and towns. I'll have to be circumspect to avoid the trade laws in place regarding ninja equipment bought in bulk."

"We've been stockpiling food for decades," Chouza offered. "With the way we go on binges when we know something is coming up and how caravans can be stopped, we've ensured that we would always be able to keep our techniques in play. No one will notice if we go on another large shopping spree today. In fact, we'll go to extremes to draw attention away from everyone else."

"Our clans are very large," Tsume grunted. "Mine and the Hyuuga alone reach near a hundred members. I don't think you can get enough for all of us for any decent amount of time. But as ninja, it won't appear out of the ordinary if we do food runs on each mission out of the village as long as we aren't obvious about it. We should keep that in mind. Same with weapons, armor and all the other goodies we'll need. It'll just be bringing it into the village that we may have issues with if the general populace finds out about it."

"Has anyone received the money Tsunade said was going to the families of those who went on the Uchiha's retrieval?" Hiashi asked, getting a series of negatives. "Something else to look into, then."

"How do we keep them from passing laws that affect us negatively?" Chouza asked. "If they were able to pass anything so far, and the Hokage couldn't fight it, then that means whatever they did was legal."

"Analysis of current events show they obtained that power directly from the Hokage," Shibi stated. "Researching the most recent laws should show what powers were granted to the civilians. I will search for this information for another meeting. Tonight? Eleven?"

"I will assist," Hiashi offered. "My Cadet members will take care of the purchases and it may be good to have two other points of view for countering them."

"Accepted," Shibi said with a nod.

"My guys will spread a ready order amongst the other ninja," Tsume said. "They need to know what's happening and we can't afford them being caught unaware. Since most of my clan is in ANBU and special forces, they'll be able to spread the news when we're ready for it to happen."

"We'll take care of observing the Council," Shikaku offered for himself and Inoichi. "We'll see if we can gather intel on their goals."

"We are forgetting two important questions," Shibi spoke into the silence that followed. "How far are we willing to take this and what happens if our opposition is too great to remain here with any form of safety and security, forcing us to follow Tsunade-sama? We are all aware of Danzo's private army. They are numerous and an unknown factor of strengths and abilities that may be impossible to stand against with only ourselves."

Tsume summed up their thoughts pretty well in two words. "Well shit."

xXxXxXx

Jiraiya grinned a lopsided grin at the lady in archives as he handed the last of the official changes in the law to the woman. So what if he had to play errand boy for Tsunade for most of the day? She was nearly the woman she was when she had been at her prime and that was the woman he had lusted after throughout his life! And loved, too. There was some of that in there somewhere. But the woman she had become was so dead inside and had lost so much of her fire that all she had going for her anymore were those wondrous objects she called boobs.

He called them 'mine'. It had taken paying off a major debt she owed when they had met up in the past and a whole lot of sake afterwards to get her good and snookered, but he had managed to get her drunk enough, and in a good enough mood, that he had actually managed to talk her into tattooing "Property of Jiraiya" on her left breast and right buttock. It had also put him into the hospital for nearly a month and had eventually been covered up by her permanent illusion, but it was there.

And she knew it.

"Is this for real?" The woman asked, eying the Hokage's seal critically. If anyone could fake it, it would be this man. And with some of these, she was almost sure he did.

"Of course it's for real!" Jiraiya exclaimed, honestly offended. "If I had been the one behind these, the hot springs would be unisex, and you know it!"

"Yes, yes, I remember," the woman said, peeved. "I almost lost my job because of that."

"Yea, but I vouched for you," Jiraiya said, scraping his sandal on the floor in embarrassment. "They go into effect tonight at midnight, but aren't enforced until tomorrow at noon. You are also to remain quiet about this under threat of death, do I make myself clear?" He asked, all joking now aside and the powerful ninja he was coming to the front.

The woman now knew being a pain in the ass would only end badly for her.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama."

xXxXxXx

"Alright Naruto! Come over here and lay flat," Tsunade ordered as the group stopped early for the night. They had found a medium-sized town half a day's travel from the Capital and had just signed in under Naruto's name into a suite at the Firebrand Inn. They certainly had the money to spend and they wanted the best rest they could obtain before meeting the Fire Daimyo.

Shizune and Ino had been absolutely delighted. Neither girl appreciated sleeping outdoors much anymore and couldn't get the thought of showers out of their heads.

"Alright," Naruto said, flopping down before the oldest blonde.

Tsunade rolled her eyes as she activated her Mystic Palms technique and began scanning Naruto's body. _'Hm. Triple bone density, altered chakra pathways, denser and stronger muscles, more blood veins and slightly larger for increased oxygen transference, alteration to his ears, nose and eyes presumably to heighten those senses, double-jointedness added which should make him more flexible, alteration to his muscles in shape, but no obvious reason as to why and the furball's chakra is still scanning his body,'_ Tsunade thought to herself as she ran the diagnostic up and down Naruto's body. _'Hm. It also seems the fox has added extremely dense bone caps over his knuckles. I suppose that's because his healing factor won't allow him to deaden the nerves there no matter how many times he punches something. That must hurt like a bitch any time he's in a fight.'_

"Well, you're chest is fully healed and you seem to be coming along nicely-"

"Does that mean I can start training again?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Not until after we speak with the Daimyo, brat!" Tsunade yelled, bopping him on the head. "It's just another day and then we can head out and start training."

"Awesome," Naruto said wistfully, laying his head back.

"Training is all well and good, but I'm taking a shower!" Ino chirruped happily, bouncing her way to the Chuunins' shared room where she planned on making good her statement.

"Not so fast!" Tsunade belted out, stopping Ino mid bounce. "You three are going to be learning everything about each other and living together, damn well learning to fight together. You three are going to become a new team where I expect you to be able to take out any enemies no matter who the hell they are."

"Yea, you said we had to sleep together, right?" Naruto asked, making Ino and Hinata blush at the unintended second meaning.

"Yes, but I doubt that will be enough, fast enough," Tsunade explained, finding a way to make Naruto pay for giving away all of her sake, forcing her to eat ramen three days in a row and helping her own plans at the same time. She was sorely pissed at the brat for that and the only reason she was actually going along with his silly order was because she knew she owed it to him and because he was right. But that didn't mean she couldn't get vengeance. "Whenever one of you showers and there's room, you three will be bathing together as well."

"What!" Two voices called out in shock while a third choked in happy delight, doing her best not to scream out in happiness.

"If there's not enough room, you will alternate on who bathes with Naruto. The three of you are going to be learning my medical techniques, and that comes with complete knowledge of human anatomy. I can't have you healing a person up and then screwing the job over because you suddenly got shocked to find out what they look like naked and you can't learn that from a book. You're going to become _very_ knowledgeable about the opposite sex." The three students were almost sure they heard an 'or else' in there somehow.

"There's only room for two in these showers, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said from where she walked out after using the restroom.

"Naruto, you choose who you get first," the Hokage said.

"Uh. Well, Hinata's my first wife, so I guess I'll go with her," he said, finding himself suddenly with a blushing Hinata on his arm, laying beside him and underneath of Tsunade's hands. _'How the hell did she get there?'_ He wondered.

"But, this way, Ino can take her shower and we'll take ours after you finish giving me a check-up and she's done."

"Thanks," Ino said as she flew into the bathroom in case Naruto changed his mind. She thought she was pretty by just about everyone's standards, but she didn't exactly want to put it to the test with her husband right then.

"I'm already done, actually," Tsunade said. "Why don't you two go out and get us some dinner, something other than ramen, and when you get back, you can have your shower and Shizune and I will make our plans for the Daimyo."

Later that night, Ino squawked as Tsunade glowered at her. "Really? But I don't even have a normal bra! I only have chest wrappings because I didn't think I'd need any! I thought we'd be spending our time training!"

"What did you think last night was? I was serious. You either sleep in your underwear or nothing. My training, my rules. Just because you only brought ninja equipment doesn't mean I'm making an exception. You can go back any time."

Ino sighed and took off her shorts and the T-shirt she had on, leaving herself in only her panties and no other clothing. "This is so embarrassing," she mumbled.

"He's your husband now," Tsunade said, feeling no sympathy. "Think of it this way. This is better than being assigned to sleep with your enemy who could be as cruel and savage to you as he wanted. Naruto won't do anything you don't want him to and you can stay under the blankets."

Ino nodded and kept her arm over her chest as she crawled into bed, waiting for Naruto and Hinata to come out of the shower. They had been in there for a little while and Hinata's giggles had stopped not long ago. _'I am buying a bra as soon as I can. This underwear only rule is really not a good thing.'_

Several minutes later, Naruto walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, evidence of his morning visitor tenting in front of him as he blushed and sat in a chair.

"See something you enjoyed, Naruto?" Tsunade asked, mentally laughing her ass off. _'Payback's a bitch, Naruto-kun, and so am I!'_

"Hinata-chan made me wash her back," Naruto mumbled, his face darkening as blood rushed to his head. "I'll just sit here until I'm ... normal, so I don't have to bother Ino-chan."

Hinata chose that moment to come out of the bathroom grinning like the cat that got the cream and wearing a robe that she slipped off before getting into bed with Ino, showing off a very impressive B-cup breast size with, perky and erect, light pink nipples that made Ino envious and a little glad she wasn't the only one who didn't have a regular bra. Few kunoichi did, in fact, simply because they never knew when they would get into a fight and the civilian garment just wouldn't hold up to the kind of stress a kunoichi would put it through.

That didn't mean Hinata had to flaunt them, though. Ino couldn't tell if she was showing off to Naruto, or trying to one-up her since she obviously wasn't putting her own on display like Naruto's first wife.

Naruto still didn't open his eyes, but his ears and nose were developed enough, not that he noticed, that he knew she was walking through and where she went.

"Are you coming to bed, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked innocently. It had been embarrassing at first, and a little scary, to be showering with Naruto, but he had kept his eyes closed the entire time in fear of being beaten, allowing her to look as much as she wanted without being caught. Only when she had made him wash her back had he been forced to open his eyes and the fact that _he_ was the one who was so embarrassed to see _her_ had made it more fun than scary for her. That, and she couldn't get past the feeling of his hands on her back and the knowledge that she was allowed to touch him without fear of reprisal.

"Actually, since I want to, er, calm down, I'm going to talk to the furball and see what he's doing to my body," Naruto said. _'What happened to the shy Hinata that couldn't even _talk_ to me without blushing and stuttering? It can't be the marriage because Ino-chan isn't changed like that! And I don't think she was telling the truth when she said married couples washed each other. Baa-chan didn't say that. She said it was training. Maybe training for marriage? Bah! I'll figure it out later.'_

"Naruto, that may be dangerous," Tsunade complained, but half-way wanting him to do so anyway. She really wanted answers and felt it was probably the only way to get them.

"As long as I don't get too close, he can't reach me," Naruto explained. "Now quiet, I need to concentrate to find the butthead."

As Naruto breathed out and then suddenly began breathing much slower, Shizune turned to her gaping Master. "Did he really just call the Kyuubi a butthead?"

xXxXxXx

"Oi, bastard fox! What's up with my body?" Naruto asked as he walked into the demon's lair within his mind as if he owned the place. Which, technically, he did.

"**You're a pesky little runt,"** the Kyuubi growled from behind his cage.

"Yea, yea. I'm tiny, you're huge, you're great, I'm pathetic, you wanna eat me, blah, blah, blah. You keep telling me these things. Why are you messing with my body?"

"**I don't think I'm going to tell you,"** the Kyuubi said with a fearsome grin. **"Not until you apologize for being rude and promise to treat me with some respect."**

"What! Like hell I will you furry bastard!" Naruto yelled, not intimidated in the least by the Kyuubi's gargantuan size or its attempt to blackmail him. "Tell me what I want to know or I'll kick your ass!"

"**And how, oh great pipsqueak, do you plan to do that? You cannot get to me from the other side of this cage and you cannot stop me from altering your body. If you want to know _what_ I am doing, your only option is to agree to my terms,"** the Kyuubi sneered, moving his head slowly from side to side to watch the human from different angles. It was the closest he could come to stalking around his prey.

"You're an evil bastard," Naruto said with a shrug, "who's made my life a living hell. I'll never apologize to you. You can forget it."

"**Hm,"** Kyuubi pondered. **"A very good point, my crunchy little morsel. Perhaps a compromise, then. I may be evil, but I _am_ powerful and great. Treat me with respect, and I will tell you what I am doing to your body. Continue to treat me with respect and work with me to change this ... _dwelling_ into something better for my internment here, and I will also assist you in the future without trying to take over and help your mates as well,"** the Kyuubi offered, promising the boy what it was already going to do anyway except the last bit which was a spur-of-the-moment idea. This was nothing more than an attempt to make his stay better. He already couldn't take the brat over unless Naruto broke the seal himself. To attempt otherwise would cause him to die the moment too much of his own power escaped from the seal. The human's body just wasn't strong enough to support all of his power.

At least not yet.

Naruto glared at the Kyuubi through narrowed eyes. "I can't promise I won't bitch you out if you annoy me. I bitch everyone who annoys me out," he admitted. "And how do I change this place? I'm not setting you free."

"**This is a mindscape, human,"** the Kyuubi growled angrily. **"It can literally be anything. You can bring anything into existence and you can remove anything from existence. The whole place is in your head and you make of it what you will. Just as you can form your body to whatever you want, so too, can you do with your mind."**

"And what would you want it to be?" Naruto asked in a surprising display of foresight. He was mildly interested in how someone could make their body whatever they wanted, but felt it may just be a demon thing. He had wanted to be taller all his life and he was still a pipsqueak.

"**I want to run free!"** The Kyuubi roared, tossing his head back and letting his anger spike in a mournful howl of misery. It was filled with sorrow, regret and pain that Naruto knew all too well. Sometimes, on his weakest of nights, he would go as far out as he could to be alone and scream into the night and he knew it sounded much like that. **"No being wants to be caged like some pathetic mongrel! I am willing to suffer the indignity of a collar to bind the seal, but I want a forest! I want mountains and I want prey to stalk! Wind in my fur! Trees blurring my vision as I run! Blue sky and dirt to roll in and a village to piss on!"**

"So, you basically want me to turn it into something like the outside world?" Naruto asked skeptically, deciding to ignore the last item and pretend he never heard it. He was having a tough time figuring out a worse way to go than drowning in demon whiz.

"**Yes, human!"** The Kyuubi seethed, lowering his head down and glaring at Naruto through his bars. He hated having to do this, but it was the only way to get a form of freedom until he could do otherwise later. **"I want to run free and dash through forests and deserts. You will not free me, and this is the best I can obtain," **the Kyuubi said. '**_For now, at least, my jailer. For now, at least.'_**

"I won't promise something until I've had the chance to try it out around you, first," Naruto explained. "I'll try to turn this into a forest or something, but I won't take you out of the cage until I've decided you won't be able to screw me over later."

It wasn't what the Kyuubi was hoping for, wishing instead that he would have just agreed outright, but it was a start. **"Very well. I can accept that as a promise to _try_**," the beast said lowly, finishing in a form of growl.

"Now, what's up with my body?"

"**You were told of the seal's functions to eventually give you all of my power. That is both true and it is not. It will give you my power, but it will take time. And the more of my power you use, the faster you obtain it, but it damages you each time you use what has not been converted and turned into your own reserves."**

"So, it takes your power and makes my reserves bigger by that much?" Naruto asked, just to be sure. "And when I use the power directly from the source, or you, then it damages me?"

"**Indeed, human. What you use of mine must go through your core and then your circulatory system to be utilized. Therefore, it damages you by damaging that, even poisoning your own chakra for a very short time and making it harder for you to use. But, because of this, it increases your reserves each time, which will also lessen your control compared to what you had before using my power."**

"That's interesting, and good to know, but how does this affect me? What's it got to do with what you were doing to my body?" Naruto asked, squinting his eyes at the big-ass fox. _'I wonder how big he really is. His turds have got to be the size of the Hokage Tower...'_

"**I altered your chakra pathways to take far more damage from my yokai and allow you to use far more chakra at once for when you use it so it doesn't shatter them. It also allows you to have more chakra throughout your system at a time, thus giving you greater strength, speed, endurance and all that other crap that pumping chakra into your body will provide."**

"And the rest?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms.

"**I am increasing your bone density to take more damage, heightening your senses, making you a better fighter as a whole, increasing your natural ability to recover from damage and fight longer and over all, I'm strengthening you to kick the tail of whoever would try to harm us. I've been able to see what you see for some time now, and I am _not_ happy with how many people are out for our blood!"**

"That's it? Just making me stronger? I won't go furry or anything?" Naruto asked, rather surprised. He had been thinking this was some weird attempt at stealing his body.

"**I'm considering it, actually,"** the Kyuubi stated, amusing himself with tormenting his eventual snack.

"What?" Naruto asked lowly, glaring at the Kyuubi and lowering his arms.

"**A bloodline, human. Or what you humans would call one. Physical traits that give you superhuman abilities like your senses and healing abilities. Those are above you humans' lowly abilities and thus, superior. These would pass on genetically and thus, a bloodline shall be born. A way to ensure the power of the great Kyuubi is never forgotten, no matter if you screw up or not and we perish from this rock."**

"How do you mean?" Naruto asked, suddenly intrigued.

"**If you die, I die, runt. I would rather we not. Therefore, it is in my best interests if I do my best to make your body stronger. This is where my earlier deal comes into play."** The Kyuubi smirked, knowing he had the blonde brat by the scruff of the neck. The humans would call it a bloodline, after all. Demons would call it, and those affected, hanyou, or half-demons. But what the little snack didn't know, wouldn't hurt him. Much.

"I'm listening," Naruto said.

"**My plan is to give you a bloodline similar to the dog clan of your previous village. You will become a little beastly with claws for nails, a tail you can use to hold things and attack with, night vision, an increase in all senses, parabolic ears like a fox's, chakra boost since you'll need to work on control anyway and I have to pull nutrients from the earth and that requires more chakra than you've got, the ability to shapeshift, extremely fast regeneration and the ability to potentially give you other bloodlines, like sharing your first mate's eyes. The regeneration will be so powerful that you will stay at your prime until you die in battle, meaning you could live for much longer than you would now."**

Naruto was quiet a moment, wondering why it sounded too good to be true so he could find the fault, when he felt he had done just that. "If you really wanted to make sure I live, then you'll give me all of that anyway."

"**But your mates won't have it,"** the Kyuubi said in a near purring voice. **"I could give you these things, but they would not be a part of you. You would live on, not growing old and have all of that protection against your enemies, but _they_ will always be at risk. If someone faster or stronger blinds your first mate, she will never be able to see again, or if Cloud steals her eyes from her. If they lose a finger in battle, then it makes them less effective, where I could make sure it can reattach or grow back."**

The Kyuubi moved from side to side in front of Naruto as he spoke, swaying almost hypnotically, his voice reverberating around Naruto in a soothing manner while taunting him with his offer and the possible results of not taking it up. **"If they continue to grow and age, they will eventually die and you will live much longer, all alone and watching everyone you come to love and cherish, all of your _precious people_, die around you. Your children, your mates, your friends and family..."**

Kyuubi hunkered low to the ground, stilling his movements and finally whispering his final words as he saw Naruto gulp, his fear and thoughts running wild. **"You will once again be all alone."**

The giant fox didn't move even a hair as he stared at the boy in front of him who was shocked into silence and frozen in place. It was obvious he was terrified of what the Kyuubi was suggesting and the Kyuubi knew, without a doubt, that the mortal was envisioning a very bleak, sad and lonely existence years down the road. He was almost alone already. Only the girls that had followed him were who he could count on as being with him. Without them, he'd be even worse off than growing up. At least as he grew, there was the Old Man Hokage to go to when he needed to see a smile, or Teuchi and Ayame-nee-chan.

"**I can keep them with you,"** the Kyuubi whispered, trying not to break Naruto's fear-filled thoughts. His voice was a low rumble that seemed to empower the feelings of loneliness and misery that Naruto's mental visions were playing upon him. **"I can make them stronger and we can _both_ protect them. All you have to do is make this place look like the outside. Such a small, _simple_ thing,"** the Kyuubi simpered, making his request sound small and inconsequential, **"for the sake of protecting your mates. Your children. Your _family_."**

Naruto shivered and gulped. "I ... I have to think about this..." Without turning around, Naruto simply vanished from the mindscape to the waking world.

The Kyuubi chuckled darkly. **"You will come to me, boy. You cannot survive being alone again. You know it."**

xXxXxXx

As uncomfortable as it may have been for Ino to be clad in only her panties and knowing she was going to share a bed with another girl, also clad in only panties, and with her new husband, only in boxers, she was anxiously waiting for Naruto to come out of his trance-like state and explain what was going on. Sharing a bed with Hinata wasn't strange or awkward at all, in reality. She had occasionally shared a bed with Sakura when they were still decent friends and stayed the night at each others' houses. And the girls in the Academy had to shower together in their locker room after physical training three days out of the week. Seeing Hinata's body was nothing new to her, or being seen by the other girl. Even the others were girls, and medics at that. It was Naruto being in the bed that was going to be awkward. And knowing that Tsunade was going to force Naruto into the middle.

But still, some part of her that she didn't understand would not allow her to even attempt going to sleep without waiting for Naruto to join her and Hinata. Maybe it was Ino's memories of always watching her mother sit up at night waiting for her husband or feeling like it was expected of her since the others were staying up, but Ino had her back against the headboard with the blanket pulled up to her chin as Hinata laid down and stared at Naruto. No one seemed capable of sleep.

Ino sighed as she glanced at the clock on the wall. He had been at it for nearly an hour now. Tsunade hadn't actually thought he was really meditating and had walked over and poked him a few times at the half hour mark when she noticed his visitor hadn't left. She was thinking he was pretending and kept thinking naughty thoughts because of it. Even pharmaceutically enhanced men didn't remain in that state without some form of stimulus! At least not when their heart rates had lowered to below sleeping standards.

Of course, that was before the oldest blonde accidentally knocked him off the chair and he hadn't so much as grunted when he fell to the floor. Tsunade had put him back in the chair and healed his broken nose and had Hinata clean up the blood and hoped he wouldn't notice when he came back to.

Hinata had also ensured his visitor wasn't 'broken' by making sure, through a thorough visual inspection, that it wasn't bent at all until Tsunade had caught her and gently suggested he'd know when he came to while pushing her towards the bed.

Ino was sure she had heard the woman asking herself what she had created.

"Hinata," Ino began, unable to take the oppressive silence any longer, "why are you so confident around Naruto now? I mean, a week ago, you could barely even speak to him without a stutter or fainting and tonight, you showered with him, totally naked, and you're walking around in nothing but panties and don't even seem to be blushing."

Tsunade perked up, her ears making tweaking sounds as she began to pay attention to the private conversation that she really had no business eavesdropping on. _'Gotta get my training back up to speed if I don't want the brat to complain any more, and what better way than listening in on juicy gossip?'_

"The simple answer?" Hinata asked, her legs bent at the knees as she laid on her stomach on the bed, not taking her eyes from Naruto. "Naruto-kun didn't reject me when I told him I'm in love with him."

"That's it?" Ino asked incredulously.

Hinata shrugged her dainty shoulders, the muscles on her back flexing ever so slightly. "In a word, yes. My whole life has been one rejection, one failure, after another. Even my father said he didn't care if I died when Kurenai-sensei asked permission to train me. No one but Kurenai-sensei cared one way or another about anything I did or how I grew. My teammates cared after a fashion, but mostly because they liked me as a person, not a ninja. I was a little sister to them who needed their protection and to be held up by them in their eyes."

Hinata sighed wistfully, once again memorizing Naruto's face because she never seemed to get enough of it. And it was so infinitely rare to see him so calm and relaxed like this. "We had a chance meeting before the Chuunin exams. He told me he was scared about going up against Neji because he was a failure. I told him he was, but he would never give up and that was what I admired about him, one failure looking up to another. And just the other day, he said it was remembering me saying that, that made him not give up after all of his tenketsu were closed when most people wouldn't even be capable of moving, much less getting up and fighting."

Hinata tilted her head to the side with a small smile, warm and loving. "Naruto-kun told me it was _my_ words that kept him going in that fight. He is the first person to tell me I gave them strength and even though he didn't accept me when I said I wanted to be his girlfriend, he didn't reject me. Naruto-kun makes me want to be a better person, and I've wanted to be his for so long that, now that I am, I don't want to lose any possible time. I don't want to risk losing this in any way. Not him, not our marriage or even our friendship. I want him to understand what he means to me. And because he knows how I feel, and hasn't rejected me, I know I don't have to fear it."

"I'm his _wife_ now!" Hinata cried out gleefully, looking on joyously at her new husband. "I've wanted that for a very long time and I won't let anything ruin it for me. I do still feel like feinting, and I want to blush, but if I did, it would push him away. I can't let that happen. So, it's as much for my own good as to try and let him know that not only am I okay with this, but that he can be near me."

"But, getting naked?" Ino asked, somewhat awed by the girl's explanation. It was so simple yet ... so poignant. This whole thing meant _so much_ to her! _Naruto_ meant so much to her! And it was so ... romantic. The fangirl in her was crying out in appreciation and wondering why things like this didn't happen to her. Not that it would matter, now that she was married. "Why doesn't that bother you? I'm blushing down to my toes and he's not even conscious!"

"Hm," Hinata hummed to herself, contemplating that question. "I suppose there are a couple of strong reasons, and possibly dozens of small ones. But ultimately, I refuse to lose him. If he doesn't want me, that's one thing. I won't ever do anything to get in the way of his happiness. A part of me feels that the inventor of the Sexy Technique is probably at least a little perverted, and I really want to get him to at least be willing to kiss me if I can't get him to do more. I mean, we _are_ married now. While we're sharing a bed with you, I know it wouldn't be very proper to try to get him to consummate it," the bluenette girl noted, but ignored, Ino's squeak of surprise, along with Shizune-chan's, "but I want Naruto to be happy and feel all the love I have for him. And if that means being naked to get him comfortable with being married to me, or if it means laying him down and tying him up next to you on the bed and finalizing our marriage, then for him, I would do so. For him, I would do anything. I guess I just feel this is a small price to pay in comparison. And other than that, it's obvious he likes it," Hinata finished with a fiendish grin that made Ino's blush even deeper and caused Shizune to gulp, trying to keep her thoughts pure.

"Are you a pervert, Hinata?" Ino asked suddenly, not aware she was asking it out loud. She had been wondering, but until two days ago, Hinata had always seemed like this silent, introverted girl who would pass out from embarrassment just for talking to Naruto, never mind thinking all of these naughty things and even getting naked in front of him. But a girl doesn't just have an epiphany like Hinata had explained. It is the sort of logical thinking that takes time and consideration to come up with. Ino spent enough time with Shikamaru to know the difference.

Hinata's face flushed and her shoulders slumped as she shrunk in on herself and she began tapping her index fingers together, her eyes darting back and forth quickly. "N-no...," she mumbled.

_'Liar,'_ three female brains all said as one, almost loud enough to actually be heard by the furiously blushing ex-Hyuuga-turned-Uzumaki. Her fingers began to poke more rapidly in the shame of it all.

Several minutes later, Naruto took a deep breath, the first change in over an hour and a half that caught all the female's attentions. When he opened his eyes, they went straight for his new wives who were waiting and watching with bated breath on the bed. One hiding under the covers and the other laying atop them, only her arms hiding her chest from his view.

"Well? What'd the fox say?" Tsunade asked gruffly, silently wondering if Naruto did this sort of thing often.

Naruto looked into his wives' eyes for a few seconds each before turning to Tsunade. "He's tired of how many people are out to get me and would rather I get stronger so he can live than die. He's also thinking about giving me, and my family, a bloodline."

Female eyes widened.

"What!" Ino asked loudly, barely having the mental strength to remember to keep her blanket by her chin when it began to fall in her shock.

"Naruto, you can't trust-" Tsunade began, getting cut off from the boy.

"He can do it anyway, whether I want him to or not," Naruto explained, gesturing down his chest. "That's obvious since he's already doing it. The only difference is whether it becomes inheritable or not."

"But why?" Shizune asked curiously.

"He said it's a way for him to be remembered, or for his power to live on, no matter if I live or die. Apparently, I get better senses, strength, speed, more chakra, eternal youth and – ACK!"

Naruto watched steaming ramen bowls circle his head as Tsunade held the boy helplessly in the air against the wall, his towel laying on the ground half way between the chair and the wall where the older blonde was staring into his bellybutton.

"What's the secret to eternal youth, fox!" Tsunade screamed into Naruto's belly, looking more than just a tad around the bend. "I've got ways of making you talk you furry little basta-ACK!"

Tsunade fell to the ground where Hinata was revealed to be standing behind her, her expression furious and one tiny digit poking into where Tsunade's head had been. "Don't you _dare_ break my husband before I've had a chance to use him!"

Ino sweatdropped, not sure why that surprised her. Any of it.

xXxXxXx

"Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru preened, guiding his newest pet by the small of his back into a large room filled with medical supplies on almost every available surface. There were three large glass cylinders on one side of the room with a pink-tinted water that had one naked male and two naked women floating in it, their noses and mouths covered with a breathing mask and bubbles coming out every now and then while the rest of their bodies had wires and probes attached. There were the remains of a male ninja from Rock country on a dissection table where a redheaded woman was making notes on something she found interesting from his arms. "This is our chief medic's laboratory. Karin, come meet Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun, this is Karin, our chief medic and my second-best in all of Sound."

"Uchiha," Karin said stiffly with a slight bow of her head and getting a grunt in return.

"Now, now, you two," Orochimaru grinned, "play nice. Sasuke-kun, Karin-chan here is going to be extracting your genetic material from your body to ensure that, if you cannot survive my training, your clan will live on."

"I told you this was a waste of time," Sasuke scowled. "I won't be defeated by some training program."

"Kukuku! This training program will be more serious than anything you've experienced before, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said amusedly. "And besides, it's your duty to ensure that any future Uchiha come from you and not the traitor to your family," his silken voice cooed, purposefully upsetting his newest minion.

"What do you know of it!" Sasuke roared in defiance.

"I know that Itachi-kun has not spent every night alone," Orochimaru stated. True, albeit not exactly accurate. He sometimes shared a room with his teammate, Kisame, or spent a night on the road near a fire with him. So, not alone. Just not the way Orochimaru was making it sound. At least Orochimaru didn't think so. "If you want to ensure your brother isn't the one to revive your clan, then you cannot afford to ignore your duty to your family."

Sasuke shook in white-hot rage, but acceded the point. "Feh. Fine."

Orochimaru's eyes twinkled in sadistic glee. "Excellent, Sasuke-kun. Karin, take extraordinary care. As these children grow older, we will be ensuring they become the elites of our village as early in life as possible."

"As you command, Orochimaru-sama."

"Excellent. I expect at least one child on the way within the week. And do ensure the volunteers each receive a dose."

Orochimaru turned and left, even as Karin began to strip to receive the first sample of Sasuke's genetic material. Orochimaru was _not_ about to put all of his faith into this one Genin. Not when he was the only viable carrier of the Sharingan with which to get a child out of him. Only a complete _fool_ would not think to gather as many possible subjects as he could. And what better plan than an army of Sharingan wielders? Sure, it would probably be nearly ten years for the weakest to be appropriately powerful, but if Itachi could become an ANBU captain at seven, then under Orochimaru's tutelage, he would have an army of them at five. And they would be the tools ninja were meant to be.

It was time to kick up experimentation rates to find the greatest use for their power amplifiers.

"It is done, Orochimaru-sama," Karin advised, putting her clothes back on.

Orochimaru turned and blinked at his red-haired medic and then at the floor between them, then at the medic who was now watching him with a blank expression on her face. _'I'm not even twenty feet from the door...'_ he thought simply. "Already?"

"He is inexperienced," Karin said with a professional attitude, seeing this more as a medical discussion than being ordered to get pregnant so all the medical modifications upon herself could be transferred to the child.

Orochimaru bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Output?" He asked simply, knowing she knew what he meant.

"Minimal. He is also young, coupled with his inexperience."

Orochimaru sighed. "Keep at it until he can't any longer and please do not waste any. And perhaps look into a method of extracting the genetics and putting them where they belong without having to go through the act. Perhaps we could spread a single sample out amongst more subjects that way."

For the first time, Karin blinked. "Perhaps we would have more success if I were to try that first and _then_-"

"Karin, do as I say," Orochimaru said, wondering if she was asking because she actually thought it would really be more successful or if she just didn't want to do this again. She had many lovers in the past, usually for assassination missions, but he had never seen her _not_ want to do it before.

xXxXxXx

Bright blue eyes opened slowly, blinking away sleep and wondered at the enjoyable feelings permeating her body. It was warm and their owner had a pleasant warmth pressed flush against her backside with a warm appendage wrapping around and gently holding her, cupping her...

"NA-RU-TO!"

Ino leapt forward off the bed and turned to look at where Naruto was waking up far too slowly from an enraged shout. The boy was looking around in confusion while a pale arm was snaked around him and stuck under his underwear, its owner hidden behind the slightly larger boy.

Moments later, a nearly naked Tsunade and Shizune entered the room, wondering at what was causing the unholy screams of torment and pain, worried that Konoha hunter ninja had found them and only finding Naruto rubbing a lump on his head and a fuming Ino standing over him, uncaring of her half-naked state and berating him for groping her. She was still bashing him upside his cranium with her pillow to emphasize her speech.

"But Ino-chan, I was asleep! How was I supposed to know what I was doing?" Naruto asked, looking up at the angry blonde girl and blushing as his eyes focused on the objects of his abuse. _'Such powerful things! It's like they draw me in even when I'm not awake and cause me to get hurt! It's no wonder Ero-Sannin keeps getting beat up! Is that what happens as we get older?'_ It was a truly frightening thought. _'But ... it _was_ kind of worth it...'_

"Sorry," Ino muttered, blushing lightly and finally realizing what she was dressed in and covering herself up as she rushed behind him to get a shirt on. "It was sort of an instinct reaction."

"You should really apologize more appropriately than that for hitting your husband for doing something that is his right, you know," Hinata said with a frown, gently stroking Naruto's hair in a way that was making him close his eyes in contentment.

"Married two days and they're already having marital problems," Tsunade quipped in amusement to Shizune.

Naruto looked over to the older women and blinked. "We have to start being naked around you guys, too?" He asked, causing Shizune to look down at her very sheer nightdress that hid absolutely nothing before she shrieked and blushed, disappearing faster than Kakashi's face when he ate.

"You know you like it, Naruto," Tsunade grunted, far less shy of her body than Shizune, partly because she was wearing thick cotton clothes that hid her body from his scrutiny and partly because she was very fond of her genjutsu. Tsunade had a few lovers in her past, but Shizune was still as innocent as you could get while being a medic. The black-haired woman had only ever had one boyfriend and that was Iruka, which ended after a single date and not even a kiss. Naruto could now safely say he was the first to see her in the buff.

Naruto scrunched up his face even as Hinata pulled his head almost painfully against her chest and glared at the older woman. "You're like my baa-chan, Baa-chan," Naruto said.

This time, the beating was mostly deserved.

xXxXxXx

**[Author's Notes:]** - There we go. I had a few other scenes I was going to add to this, but it was getting too long. Next chapter is the remainder of this one and their first mission, given by the daimyo, along with meeting the ferrets and the panty raid.

(1) – Konohamaru is considered the Sandaime's grandson in Canon. As far as I am aware, Asuma is Hiruzen's only child. Therefore, Konohamaru _must_ be his son. If not, then I simply wasn't aware of any other family, but will keep this as a part of this story. I will explain this later in the story in a Konoha arc in the next chapter.


End file.
